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OGJCAL  SEW 


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A 


BR  375  .B9  1865   v. 1 
Burnet,  Gilbert,  1643-1715. 
The  history  of  the 
reformation  of  the  Church 


V 


>»' 


TH  E 


FEB  -o  1915 
to*..... 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION 


OF    THE 


CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND 


BY 

GILBEKT    BURNET,  D.D. 

BISHOP     OF     SALISBURY. 

A  NEW  EDITION  CAREFULLY  REVISED,  AND  THE  RECORDS 
COLLATED  WITH  THE  ORIGINALS, 

BY 

NICHOLAS    POCOCK,    M.  A. 

LATE     MICHEL    FELLOW    OF    QUEEN'S     COLLEGE. 


VOL.  I. 


/~ 


THE    PROPERTY    Or 


oxfldiEdNRY  FROWDE 

AT    THE    ckl«^&JW^Rgs^SS   WAJ 

J      AMFN  CORNER.  LONDON. 

Tnqt  to  be  removed  fxcm  the 
p  E/VDING  ROOM, 


v.. 


THE  FIEST  PAST. 

OF  THE  PROGRESS  MADE  IN  THE  REFORMATION 

DURING   THE    REIGN   OF 

KING  HENRY  VIII. 


TO   THE    KING1. 

SlB, 

JL  HE  first  step  that  was  made  in  the  reformation  of  this 
Church  was  the  restoring  to  your  royal  ancestors  the  rights  of 
the  crown,  and  an  entire  dominion  over  all  their  subjects  ;  of 
which  they  had  been  disseized  by  the  craft  and  violence  of  an 
unjust  pretender :  to  whom  the  clergy,  though  your  Majesty's 
progenitors  had  enriched  them  by  a  bounty  no  less  profuse 
than  ill-managed,  did  not  only  adhere,  but  drew  with  them  the 
laity,  over  whose  consciences  they  had  gained  so  absolute  an 
authority,  that  our  kings  were  to  expect  no  obedience  from 
their  people,  but  what  the  popes  were  pleased  to  allow. 

It  is  true,  the  nobler  part  of  the  nation  did  frequently  in 
parliament  assert  the  regal  prerogatives  against  those  papal 
invasions :  yet  these  were  but  faint  endeavours  ;  for  an  ill- 
executed  law  is  but  an  unequal  match  to  a  principle  strongly 
infused  into  the  consciences  of  the  people. 

But  how  different  was  this  from  the  teaching  of  Christ  and 
his  apostles  !  They  forbade  men  to  use  all  those  arts  by  which 
the  papacy  grew  up,  and  yet  subsists :  they  exhorted  them  to 
obey  magistrates,  when  they  knew  it  would  cost  them  their 
lives  :  they  were  for  setting  up  a  kingdom,  not  of  this  world ; 
nor  to  be  attained,  but  by  a  holy  and  peaceable  religion.  If 
this  might  every  where  take  place,  princes  would  find  govern- 
ment both  easy  and  secure :  it  would  raise  in  their  subjects  the 
truest  courage,  and  unite  them  with  the  firmest  charity  :  it 
would  draw  from  them  obedience  to  the  laws,  and  reverence  to 
the  persons  of  their  kings.  If  the  standards  of  justice  and 
charity,  which  the  gospel  gives,  of  doing  as  wo  would  be  done 
by,  and  loving  our  neighbours  as  ourselves,  were  made  the 
measures  of  men's  actions,  how  steadily  would  societies  be 
governed,  and  how  exactly  would  princes  be  obeyed ! 

The  design  of  the  reformation  was  to  restore  Christianity  to 
what  it  was  at  first,  and  to  purge  it  of  those  corruptions,  with 
which  it  was  overrun  in  the  later  and  darker  ages. 

I   [Charles  II.] 
r»     BURNET,  PART  I.  B 


2  THE   EPISTLE    DEDICATORY. 

Great  Sir,  this  work  was  carried  on  by  a  slow  and  unsteady 
progress  under  king  Henry  the  Eighth  ;  it  advanced  in  a  fuller 
and  freer  course  under  the  short,  but  blessed  reign  of  king 
Edward ;  was  sealed  with  the  blood  of  many  martyrs  under 
queen  Mary ;  was  brought  to  a  full  settlement  in  the  happy 
and  glorious  days  of  queen  Elizabeth  ;  was  defended  by  the 
learned  pen  of  king  James:  but  the  established  frame  of  it, 
under  which  it  had  so  long  flourished,  was  overthrown  with 
your  Majesty's  blessed  father,  who  fell  with  it,  and  honoured  it 
by  his  unexampled  suffering  for  it ;  and  was  again  restored  to 
its  former  beauty  and  order  by  your  Majesty's  happy  return. 

What  remains  to  complete  and  perpetuate  this  blessing,  the 
composing  of  our  differences  at  home,  the  establishing  a  closer 
correspondence  with  the  reformed  churches  abroad,  the  secur- 
ing us  from  the  restless  and  wicked  practices  of  that  party, 
who  hoped  so  lately  to  have  been  at  the  end  of  their  designs  ; 
and  that  which  can  only  entitle  us  to  a  blessing  from  God,  the 
reforming  of  our  manners  and  lives,  as  our  ancestors  did  our 
doctrine  and  worship;  all  this  is  reserved  for  your  Majesty, 
that  it  may  appear,  that  your  royal  title  of  Defender  of  the 
Faith  is  no  empty  sound,  but  the  real  strength  and  glory  of 
your  crown. 

For  attaining  these  ends,  it  will  be  of  great  use  to  trace  the 
steps  of  our  first  reformers ;  for  if  the  landmarks  they  set  be 
observed,  we  can  hardly  go  out  of  the  way.  This  was  my 
chief  design  in  the  following  sheets,  which  I  now  most  humbly 
offer  to  your  Majesty,  hoping,  that  as  you  were  graciously 
pleased  to  command  that  I  should  have  free  access  to  all  records 
for  composing  them,  so  you  will  not  deny  your  royal  patronage 
to  the  history  of  that  work,  which  God  grant  your  Majesty 
may  live  to  raise  to  its  perfection,  and  to  complete  in  your 
reign,  the  glory  of  all  your  titles.  This  is  a  part  of  the  most 
earnest  as  well  as  the  daily  prayers  of, 

May  it  please  your  sacred  Majesty, 
Your  Majesty's  most  loyal, 
most  faithful,  and  most 

devoted  subject  and  servant, 

G.  BURNET. 


THE   PEEFACE. 


1  HERE  is  no  part  of  history  better  received  than  the  account 
of  great  changes,  and  revolutions  of  states  and  governments,  in 
which  the  variety  of  unlooked-for  accidents  and  events  both 
entertains  the  reader  and  improves  him. 

Of  all  changes,  those  in  religion  that  have  been  sudden  and 
signal  are  inquired  into  with  the  most  searching  curiosity  : 
where  the  salvation  of  souls  being  concerned,  the  better  sort 
are  much  affected ;  and  the  credit,  honour,  and  interest  of 
churches  and  parties  draw  in  these,  who,  though  they  do  not 
much  care  for  the  religious  part,  yet  make  noise  about  it  to 
serve  other  ends.  The  changes  that  were  made  in  religion  in 
the  last  century  have  produced  such  effects  every  where,  that 
it  is  no  wonder  if  all  persons  desire  to  see  a  clear  account  of 
the  several  steps  in  which  they  advanced,  of  the  counsels  that 
directed  them,  and  the  motives,  both  religious  and  political, 
that  inclined  men  of  all  conditions  to  concur  in  them.  Germany 
produced  a  Slcidan,  France  a  Thuanus,  and  Italy  a  Friar 
Paul,  who  have  given  the  world  as  full  satisfaction  in  what  was 
done  beyond  sea,  as  they  could  desire.  And  though  the  two 
last  lived  and  died  in  the  communion  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
yet  they  have  delivered  things  to  posterity  with  so  much  can- 
dour and  evenness,  that  their  authority  is  disputed  by  none  but 
those  of  their  own  party. 

But  while  foreign  churches  have  such  historians,  ours  at 
home  have  not  had  the  like  good  fortune  :  for  whether  it  was, 
that  the  reformers  at  first  presumed  so  far  on  their  legal  and 
calm  proceedings,  on  the  continued  succession  of  their  clergy, 
the  authority  of  the  law,  and  the  protection  of  the  prince,  that 
they  judged  it  needless  to  write  an  history,  and  therefore  em- 
ployed their  best  pens,  rather  to  justify  what  they  did,  than  to 
deliver  how  it  was  done  ;  or  whether  by  a  mere  neglect  the 

b  2 


4  THE   PREFACE. 

thing  was  omitted ;  we  cannot  determine.  True  it  is,  that  it 
was  not  done  to  any  degree  of  exactness,  when  matters  were  so 
fresh  in  men's  memories,  that  things  might  have  been  opened 
with  greater  advantages,  and  vouched  by  better  authority, 
than  it  is  to  be  expected  at  this  distance. 

They  were  soon  after  much  provoked  by  Sanders' ]  history, 
which  he  published  to  the  world  in  Latin :  yet,  either  despis- 
ing a  writer,  who  did  so  impudently  deliver  falsehoods,  that 
from  his  own  book  many  of  them  may  be  disproved,  or  expect- 
ing a  command  from  authority,  they  did  not  then  set  about  it. 
The  best  account  I  can  give  of  their  silence  is,  that  most  of 
Sanders'  calumnies  being  levelled  at  queen  Elizabeth,  whose 
birth  and  parents  he  designed  chiefly  to  disgrace,  it  was 
thought  too  tender  a  point  by  her  wise  counsellors  to  be  much 
inquired  into  :  it  gave  too  great  credit  to  his  lies,  to  answer 
them ;  an  answer  would  draw  forth  a  reply,  by  which  those 
calumnies  would  still  be  kept  alive ;  and  therefore  it  was  not 
without  good  reason  thought  better  to  let  them  lie  unanswered 
and  despised.  From  whence  it  is  come,  that  in  this  age  that 
author  is  in  such  credit,  that  now  he  is  quoted  with  much 
assurance :  most  of  all  the  writers  in  the  church  of  Rome  rely 
on  his  testimony  as  a  good  authority.  The  collectors  of  the 
general  history  of  that  age  follow  his  thread  closely ;  some  of 
them  transcribe  his  very  words.  One  Pollini'2,  a  Dominican, 
published  an  history  of  the  changes  that  were  made  in  England, 
in  Italian,  at  Rome,  anno  1594,  which  he  should  more  ingenu- 
ously have  called  a  translation  or  paraphrase  of  Sanders' 
history  :  and  of  late  more  candidly,  but  no  less  maliciously,  one 
of  the  best  pens  of  France  has  been  employed  to  translate  him 
into  their  language ;  which  has  created  such  prejudices  in  the 
.  minds  of  many  there,  that  our  reformation,  which  generally 
was  more  modestly  spoken  of,  even  by  those  who  wrote  against 
it,  is  now  looked  on  by  such  as  read  Sanders,  and  believe  him, 
as  one  of  the  foulest  things  that  ever  was. 

1    [Sanderus     (Nicolaus).      De  Cologne  1628,  which  is  the  edition 

origine  et  progressu  schismatis  An-  used  by  Burnet,  and  referred  to  in 

glicani  libri  tres,  Colon.  8vo.  1585.  this  edition.] 

It  was  reprinted  at  Rome  in  1586,  2  [Pollini  (Girolamo).  L'  historia 
8vo,  with   alterations,  and   several  ecclesiastica  della  rivoluzion  d'  In- 
other  editions    have    appeared,   of  ghilterra,  4to  Rom.  1594.] 
which  perhaps  the  best  is  that  of 


THE  PREFACE.  5 

Fox3,  for  all  his  voluminous  work,  bad  but  few  things  in  his 
eye  when  he  made  his  collection,  and  designed  only  to  discover 
the  corruptions  and  cruelties  of  the  Roman  clergy,  and  the 
sufferings  and  constancy  of  the  reformers.  But  his  work  was 
written  in  baste,  and  there  are  so  many  defects  in  it,  that  it 
can  by  no  means  be  called  a  complete  history  of  these  times ; 
though  I  must  add,  that,  having  compared  his  Acts  and  Monu- 
ments with  the  records,  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover  any 
errors  or  prevarications  in  them,  but  the  utmost  fidelity  and 
exactness.  Parker4 ,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  designed  only 
in  his  account  of  the  British  Antiquities  to  do  justice  and 
honour  to  his  see,  and  so  gives  us  barely  the  Life  of  Cranmer, 
with  some  few  and  general  hints  of  what  he  did.  Hall5  was 
but  a  superficial  writer,  and  was  more  careful  to  get  full  in- 
formations of  the  clothes  that  were  worn  at  the  interviews 
of  princes,  justs,  tournaments,  and  great  solemnities,  than 
about  the  counsels  or  secret  transactions  of  the  time  he  lived 
in.  Holinshed6,  Speed7,  and  Stow8,  give  bare  relations  of 
things  that  were  public,  and  commit  many  faults.  Upon  their 
scent  most  of  our  later  writers  have  gone,  and  have  only 
collected  and  repeated  what  they  wrote. 

The  lord  Herbert9  judged  it  unworthy  of  him  to  trifle  as 
others  had  done,  and  therefore  made  a  more  narrow  search 
into  records  and  original  papers  than  all  that  had  gone  before 

3  [Foxe  (John).  Actes  and  Monu-  1577,  reprinted  in  1586-7.] 
ments  &c.  touching  matters  of  the  7  [Speed  (John).     The  History  of 
Church,  &c.  fol.  Lond.  1563.]  Great  Britain  under  the  conquests 

4  [Parker  (Math.)  De  Antiquitate  of  the  Romans,  Saxons,  Danes,  and 
Britannicas  Ecclesiae  et  privilegiis  Normans  ;  London,  fol.  161 1,  re- 
Ecclesia?  Cantuariensis,  fol.  Lond.  printed  in  16 14  and  1623.] 

1572.    It  was  reprinted  in  1605  and  8  [Stow  (John).     Annales,  or  a 

1729.]  generall  Chronicle  of  England ;  be- 

5  [Hall  (Edward).  The  union  of  gun  by  J.  Stow,  continued  and  aug- 
the  two  noble  and  illustre  famelies  mented  by  Edm.  Howes.  London, 
of  Lancastre  and  Yorke— with  al  the  fol.  1631.  This  work  was  first 
actes  done  in  both  the  tymes  of  the  printed  in  4to.  London,  (1592), 
princes — beginnyng  at  the  tyme  of  without  date.] 

kyng  Henry  the  fowerth,  and  pro-  9  [Herbert  (lord  Edward,  of  Cher- 

ceiding  to  the  reigne  of  kyng  Henry  bury).  The  Life  and  Raig'ne  of  King 

the  eight.     Fol.  London,  1550.]  Henry  VIII.   fol.  Lond.  1649.      It 

6  [Holingshed  (Raphaell).  The  was  reprinted  several  times  and  ap- 
Chronicles  of  Englandc,  Scotlande,  pears  in  Kennett's  History  of  Eng- 
and  Irelande.     London,  2  vols.  fol.  land.] 


6  THE  PREFACE. 

him ;  and  with  great  fidelity  and  industry  has  given  us  the 
history  of  king  Henry  the  Eighth.  But  in  the  transactions 
that  concern  religion,  he  dwells  not  so  long  as  the  matter  re- 
quired, leaving  those  to  men  of  another  profession,  and  judging 
it  perhaps  not  so  proper  for  one  of  his  condition  to  pursue  a 
lull  and  accurate  deduction  of  those  matters. 

Since  he  wrote,  two  have  undertaken  the  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory;  Fuller10  and  Hey lin11.  The  former  got  into  his  hands 
some  few  papers,  that  were  not  seen  before  he  published  them ; 
but  being  a  man  of  fancy,  and  affecting  an  odd  way  of  writing, 
his  work  gives  no  great  satisfaction.  But  doctor  Heylin  wrote 
smoothly  and  handsomely,  his  method  and  style  are  good,  and 
his  work  was  generally  more  read  than  any  thing  that  had 
appeared  before  him :  but  cither  he  was  very  ill-informed,  or 
very  much  led  by  his  passions ;  and  he  being  wrought  on  by 
most  violent  prejudices  against  some  that  were  concerned  in 
that  time,  delivers  many  things  in  such  a  manner,  and  so 
strangely,  that  one  would  think  he  had  been  secretly  set  on  to 
it  by  those  of  the  church  of  Rome,  though  I  doubt  not  he  was 
a  sincere  protestant,  but  violently  carried  away  by  some  par- 
ticular conceits.  In  one  thing  he  is  not  to  be  excused,  that  he 
never  vouched  any  authority  for  what  he  writ,  which  is  not  to 
be  forgiven  any  who  write  of  transactions  beyond  their  own 
time,  and  deliver  new  things  not  known  before.  So  that  upon 
what  grounds  he  wrote  a  great  deal  of  his  book  we  can  only 
conjecture,  and  many  in  their  guesses  are  not  apt  to  be  very 
favourable  to  him. 

Things  being  delivered  to  us  with  so  much  alloy  and  uncer- 
tainty, those  of  the  church  of  Rome  do  confidently  disparage 
our  reformation :  the  short  history  of  it,  as  it  is  put  in  their 
mouths,  being,  that  it  was  begun  by  the  lusts  and  passions  of 
king  Henry  the  Eighth,  carried  on  by  the  ravenousness  of  the 
duke  of  Somerset  under  Edward  the  Sixth,  and  confirmed  by 
the  policy  of  queen  Elizabeth  and  her  council  to  secure  her 
title.  These  things  being  generally  talked  and  spread  abroad 
in  foreign  parts,  especially  in  France,  by  the  new  translation 

10  [Fuller  (Thomas).  The  Church  "  [Heylin  (Peter).  Ecclesia  Re- 
History  of  Britain  from  the  birth  of  staurata,  or  the  History  of  the 
Jesus  Christ  until  the  year  1648.  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
fol.  Lond.  1655.]  land.  London,  fol.  1661.] 


THE  PREFACE.  7 

of  Sanders 12,  and  not  being  yet  sufficiently  cleared,  many  have 
desired  to  see  a  fuller  and  better  account  of  those  transactions 
than  has  yet  been  given;  so  the  thing  being  necessary,  I  was 
the  more  encouraged  to  set  about  it  by  some  persons  of  great 
worth  and  eminence,  who  thought  I  had  much  leisure  and 
other  good  opportunities  to  go  through  with  it,  and  wished 
me  to  undertake  it.  The  person13  that  did  engage  me  chiefly 
to  this  work,  was  on  many  accounts  much  fitter  to  have  under- 
taken it  himself,  being  the  most  indefatigable  in  his  industry, 
and  the  most  judicious  in  his  observations,  of  any  I  know,  and 
is  one  of  the  greatest  masters  of  style  now  living.  But  being 
engaged  in  the  service  of  the  church,  in  a  station  that  affords 
him  very  little  leisure,  he  set  me  on  to  it,  and  furnished  me 
with  a  curious  collection  of  his  own  observations.  And  in 
some  sort  this  work  may  be  accounted  his,  for  he  corrected  it 
with  a  most  critical  exactness ;  so  that  the  first  materials,  and 
the  last  finishing  of  it,  are  from  him.  But  after  all  this  I  lie 
under  such  restraints  from  his  modesty,  that  I  am  not  allowed 
to  publish  his  name. 

I  had  two  objections  to  it,  besides  the  knowledge  of  my  own 
unfitness  for  such  a  work.  One  was,  my  unacquaintedness 
with  the  laws  and  customs  of  this  nation,  not  being  born  in 
it14  :  the  other  was,  the  expense  that  such  a  search  as  was 
necessary  required,  which  was  not  easy  for  me  to  bear.  My 
acquaintance  with  the  most  ingenious  master  William  Petyt, 
counsellor  of  the  Inner  Temple,  cleared  one  difficulty ;  he 
offering  me  his  assistance  and  direction,  without  which  I  must 
have  committed  great  faults.  But  I  must  acknowledge  myself 
highly  obliged  by  the  favour  and  bounty  of  the  honourable 
master  of  the  rolls,  sir  Harbottle  Grimstone,  of  whose  worth 
and  goodness  to  me  I  must  make  a  large  digression,  if  I  would 
undertake  to  say  all  that  the  subject  will  bear :  the  whole 
nation  expressed  their  value  of  him,  upon  the  most  signal 
occasion,  when  they  made  him  their  mouth  and  speaker  in  that 

12  [A  translation  of  Sanders'  was,  at  the  time  of  the  first  publica- 
book  had  been  printed  in  1587, 8vo.  tion  of  this  volume,  dean  of  Bangor, 
without  the  name  of  the  place  of  afterwards  successively  bp.  of  S. 
publication  ;  the  translation  here  Asaph,  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  and 
referred  to  was  published  at  Paris  in  Worcester.] 

i2mo.  1676.  14  [He  was  born  at  Edinburgh, 

13  [This  was  William  Lloyd,  who     Sept.  18,  1643.] 


8  THE  PREFACE. 

blessed  assembly  which  called  home  their  king  ;  after  which 
real  evidence  all  little  commendations  may  be  well  forborne. 
The  obligations  he  has  laid  on  me  are  such,  that,  as  the  grati- 
tudc  and  service  of  my  whole  life  is  the  only  equal  return  I 
can  make  for  them ;  so,  as  a  small  tribute,  I  judge  myself 
obliged  to  make  my  acknowledgments  in  this  manner,  for  the 
leisure  I  enjoy  under  his  protection,  and  the  support  I  receive 
from  him  :  and  if  this  work  does  the  world  any  service,  the 
best  part  of  the  thanks  is  due  to  him,  that  furnished  me  with 
particular  opportunities  of  carrying  it  on.  Nor  must  I  conceal 
the  nobleness  of  that  renowned  promoter  of  learning,  Mr.  Boyle, 
who  contributed  liberally  to  the  expense  this  work  put  me  to. 

Upon  these  encouragements  I  set  about  it,  and  began  with 
the  search  of  all  public  records  and  offices,  the  parliament  and 
treaty  rolls,  with  all  the  patent  rolls,  and  the  registers  of  the 
sees  of  Canterbury  and  London,  and  of  the  augmentation  office. 
Then  I  laid  out  for  all  the  MSS.  I  could  hear  of,  and  found 
things  beyond  my  expectation  in  the  famous  Cotton  library, 
where  there  is  such  a  collection  of  original  papers  relating  to 
theso  times,  as  perhaps  the  world  can  show  nothing  like  it.     I 
had  also  the  favour  of  some  MSS.  of  great  value,  both  from 
the  famous  and  eminently  learned   doctor  Stillingfleet,  who 
gave  me  great  assistance  in  this  work,  and  from  Mr.  Petyt  and 
others.     When  I  had  looked  these  over,  I  then  used  all  the 
endeavours  I  could  to  gather  together  the  books  that  were 
printed  in  those  days,  from  which  I  not  only  got  considerable 
hints  of  matters  of  fact,  but  (that  which  I  chiefly  looked  for) 
the  arguments  upon  which  they  managed  the   controversies 
then  on  foot,  of  which  I  thought  it  was  the  part  of  an  ecclesias- 
tical historian  to  give  an  account,  as  I  could  recover  them,  that 
it  may  appear  upon  what  motives  and  grounds  they  proceeded. 
The  three  chief  periods  of  Henry  the  Eighth's  reign,  in 
which  religion  is  concerned,  are,  first,  from  the  beginning  of 
his  reign,  till  the  process  of  his  divorce  with  queen  Catharine 
commenced.     The  second  is  from  that,  till  his  total  breaking 
off  from  Home,  and  setting  up  his  supremacy  over  all  causes 
and  persons.     The  third  is  from  that  to  his  death. 

When  I  first  set  about  this  work,  I  intended  to  have  carried 
on  the  History  of  the  Reformation  to  the  reign  of  queen  Eliza- 
beth, in  which  it  was  finished  and  fully  settled ;    but  I  was 


THE  PREFACE.  9 

forced  to  change  that  resolution.  The  chief  reason,  among 
many  others,  was,  that  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  discover 
such  full  informations  of  what  passed  under  the  succeeding 
reigns  as  were  necessary  for  a  history ;  and  though  I  have 
searched  the  public  registers  of  that  time,  yet  I  am  still  in  the 
dark  myself  in  many  particulars.  This  made  me  resolve  on 
publishing  this  volume  first,  hoping,  that  those,  in  whose 
hands  any  manuscripts  or  papers  of  that  time  lie,  will,  from 
what  is  now  performed,  be  encouraged  to  communicate  them  : 
or  if  any  have  made  a  considerable  progress  in  those  col- 
lections, I  shall  be  far  from  envying  them  the  honour  of  such  a 
work,  in  which  it  had  been  inexcusable  vanity  in  me  to  have 
meddled,  if  the  desires  of  others,  who  have  great  power  over 
me,  had  not  prevailed  with  me  to  set  about  it ;  and  therefore, 
though  I  have  made  a  good  advance  in  the  following  part  of 
the  work,  I  shall  most  willingly  resign  it  up  to  any  who  will 
undertake  it,  and  they  shall  have  the  free  use  of  all  my  papers. 
But  if  none  will  set  about  it,  who  yet  can  furnish  materials 
towards  it,  I  hope  their  zeal  for  carrying  on  so  desired  a  work 
will  engage  them  to  give  all  the  help  to  it  that  is  in  their 
power. 

There  is  only  one  passage  belonging  to  the  next  volume, 
which  I  shall  take  notice  of  here,  since  from  it  I  must  plead 
my  excuse  for  several  defects,  which  may  seem  to  be  in  this 
work.  In  the  search  I  made  of  the  rolls  and  other  offices,  I 
wondered  much  to  miss  several  commissions,  patents,  and  other 
writings,  which  by  clear  evidence  I  knew  were  granted,  and 
yet  none  of  them  appeared  on  record.  This  I  could  not  impute 
to  any  thing  but  the  omission  of  the  clerks,  who  failed  in  the 
enrolling  those  commissions,  though  it  was  not  likely  that 
matters  of  so  high  concernment  should  have  been  neglected, 
especially  in  such  a  critical  time,  and  under  so  severe  a  king. 
But  as  I  continued  down  my  search  to  the  fourth  year  of  queen 
Mary,  I  found,  in  the  twelfth  roll  of  that  year,  a  commission, 
which  cleared  all  my  former  doubts,  and  by  which  I  saw  what 
was  become  of  the  things  I  had  so  anxiously  searched  after. 
We  have  heard  of  the  expurgation  of  books  practised  in  the 
church  of  Home ;  but  it  might  have  been  imagined,  that  public 
registers  and  records  would  have  been  safe :  yet,  lest  these 
should  have  been  afterwards  confessors,  it  was  resolved  they 


10  THE   PREFACE. 

should  then  be  martyrs ;  for  on  the  29th  of  December,  in  the 
fourth  year  of  her  reign,  a  commission  was  issued  out  under  the 
great  seal  to  Bonner  bishop  of  London,  Cole  dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
and  Martine  a  doctor  of  the  civil  law,  which  is  of  that  import- 
ance, that  I  shall  here  insert  the  material  words  of  it :  WJiereas 
it  is  come  to  our  knowledge,  that  in  the  time  of  the  late  schism 
divers  compts,  books,  scrolls,  instruments,  and  other  writings, 
were  practised,  devised,  and  made,  concerning  professions 
against  the  pope's  holiness,  and  the  see  apostolic,  and  also 
sundry  infamous  scrutinies  taken  in  abbeys  and  other  religious 
houses,  tending  rather  to  subvert  and  overthrow  all  good 
religion  and  religious  houses,  than  for  any  truth  contained 
therein :  which  being  in  the  custody  of  divers  registers,  and 
we  intending  to  have  those  writings  brought  to  knowledge, 
whereby  they  may  be  considered,  and  ordered  according  to 
our  will  and  pleasure ;  thereupon,  those  three,  or  any  two  of 
them,  are  empowered  to  cite  any  j^rsons  before  them,  and 
examine  them  upon  the  premises  upon  oath,  and  to  bring  all 
such  writings  before  them,  and  certify  their  diligence  about  it 
to  cardinal  Pole,  that  further  order  might  be  given  about 
them. 

When  I  saw  this,  I  soon  knew  which  way  so  many  writings 
had  gone :  and  as  I  could  not  but  wonder  at  their  boldness, 
who  thus  presumed  to  raze  so  many  records ;  so  their  ingenuity 
in  leaving  this  commission  in  the  rolls,  by  which  any  who 
had  the  curiosity  to  search  for  it,  might  be  satisfied  how  the 
other  commissions  were  destroyed,  was  much  to  be  commended. 
Yet  in  the  following  work  it  will  appear  that  some  few  papers 
escaped  their  hands. 

I  know  it  is  needless  to  make  great  protestations  of  my 
sincerity  in  this  work.  These  are  of  course,  and  are  little 
considered ;  but  I  shall  take  a  more  effectual  way  to  be  believed, 
for  I  shall  vouch  my  warrants  for  what  I  say,  and  tell  where 
they  are  to  be  found.  And  having  copied  out  of  records  and 
MSS.  many  papers  of  great  importance,  I  shall  not  only  insert 
the  substance  of  them  in  the  following  work,  but  at  the  end  of 
it  shall  give  a  collection  of  them  at  their  full  length,  and  in  the 
language  in  which  they  were  originally  written  :  from  which, 
as  the  reader  will  receive  full  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this 
history ;  so  he  will  not  be  ill  pleased  to  observe  the  genius  and 


THE   PREFACE.  11 

way  of  the  great  men  in  that  time,  of  which  he  will  be  better 
able  to  judge,  by  seeing  their  letters,  and  other  papers,  than 
by  any  representation  made  of  them  at  second  hand.  They 
are  digested  into  that  order  in  which  they  are  referred  to  in 
the  History. 

It  will  surprise  some  to  see  a  book  of  this  bigness  written  of 
the  history  of  our  reformation  under  the  reign  of  king  Henry 
the  Eighth  ;  since  the  true  beginnings  of  it  are  to  be  reckoned 
from  the  reign  of  king  Edward  the  Sixth,  in  which  the  articles 
of  our  church,  and  the  forms  of  our  worship,  were  first  com- 
piled and  set  forth  by  authority.  And  indeed  in  king  Henry's 
time  the  reformation  was  rather  conceived  than  brought  forth ; 
and  two  parties  were  in  the  last  eighteen  years  of  his  reign 
struggling  in  the  womb,  having  now  and  then  advantages  on 
either  side,  as  the  unconstant  humour  of  that  king  changed, 
and  as  his  interests,  and  often  as  his  passions,  swayed  him. 

Cardinal  Wolsey  had  so  dissolved  his  mind  into  pleasures, 
and  puffed  him  up  with  flattery  and  servile  compliances,  that  it 
was  not  an  easy  thing  to  serve  him  ;  for  being  boisterous  and 
impatient  naturally,  which  was  much  heightened  by  his  most 
extravagant  vanity,  and  high  conceit  of  his  own  learning  and 
wisdom,  he  was  one  of  the  most  uncounsellable  persons  in  the 
Avorld. 

The  book  which  he  wrote  had  engaged  him  deep  in  these 
controversies ;  and  by  perpetual  flatteries,  he  was  brought  to 
fancy  it  was  written  with  some  degrees  of  inspiration.  And 
Luther  in  his  answer  had  treated  him  so  unmannerly,  that  it 
was  only  the  necessity  of  his  affairs  that  forced  him  into  any 
correspondence  with  that  party  in  Germany. 

And  though  Cranmer  and  Cromwell  improved  every  ad- 
vantage, that  either  the  king's  temper  or  his  affairs  offered 
them,  as  much  as  could  be ;  yet  they  were  to  be  pitied,  having 
to  do  with  a  prince,  who,  upon  the  slightest  pretences,  threw 
down  those  whom  he  had  most  advanced ;  which  Cromwell  felt 
severely,  and  Cranmer  was  sometimes  near  it. 

The  faults  of  this  king  being  so  conspicuous,  and  the  severity 
of  his  proceedings  so  unjustifiable,  particularly  that  heinous 
violation  of  the  most  sacred  rules  of  justice  and  government,  in 
condemning;  men  without  brinsnno-  them  to  make  their  answers, 
most  of  our  writers  have  separated  the  concerns  of  this  church 


12  THE   PREFACE. 

from  his  reign  ;  and,  imagining  that  all  he  did  was  founded 
only  on  his  revenge  upon  the  court  of  Rome  for  denying  his 
divorce,  have  taken  little  care  to  examine  how  matters  were 
transacted  in  his  time. 

But  if  we  consider  the  great  things  that  were  done  by  him, 
we  must  acknowledge  that  there  was  a  signal  providence  of 
God  in  raising  up  a  king  of  his  temper,  for  clearing  the  way 
to  that  blessed  work  that  followed :  and  that  could  hardly 
have  been  done,  but  by  a  man  of  his  humour ;  so  that  I  may 
very  fitly  apply  to  him  the  witty  simile  of  an  ingenious  writer, 
who  compares  Luther  to  a  postilion  in  his  waxed  boots  and 
oiled  coat,  lashing  his  horses  through  thick  and  thin,  and 
bespattering  all  about  him. 

This  character  befits  king  Henry  better,  (saving  the  reverence 
due  to  his  crown,)  who,  as  the  postilion  of  reformation,  made 
way  for  it  through  a  great  deal  of  mire  and  filth.  He  abolished 
the  pope's  power,  by  which  not  only  that  tyranny  was  de- 
stroyed, which  had  been  long  an  heavy  burden  on  this  op- 
pressed nation ;  but  all  the  opinions,  rites,  and  constitutions, 
for  which  there  was  no  better  authority  than  papal  decrees, 
were  to  fall  to  the  ground  ;  the  foundation  that  supported  them 
being  thus  snapped.  He  suppressed  all  the  monasteries  ;  in 
which  though  there  were  some  inexcusable  faults  committed, 
yet  ho  wanted  not  reason  to  do  what  he  did.  For  the  founda- 
tion of  those  houses  being  laid  on  the  superstitious  conceit  of 
redeeming  souls  out  of  purgatory,  by  saying  masses  for  them  ; 
they  whose  office  that  was  had,  by  counterfeiting  relics,  by 
forging  of  miracles,  and  other  like  impostures,  drawn  together 
a  vast  wealth,  to  the  enriching  of  their  saints,  of  whom  some 
perhaps  wore  damned  souls,  and  others  were  never  in  being. 
These  arts  being  detected,  and  withal  their  great  vieiousness 
in  some  places,  and  in  all  their  great  abuse  of  the  Christian 
religion,  made  it  seem  unfit  they  should  be  continued.  But  it 
was  their  dependence  on  the  see  of  Rome,  which,  as  the  state 
of  things  then  was,  made  it  necessary  that  they  should  be  sup- 
pressed. New  foundations  might  have  done  well ;  and  the 
scantness  of  those,  considering  the  number  and  wealth  of  those 
which  were  suppressed,  is  one  of  the  great  blemishes  of  that 
reign.  But  it  was  in  vain  to  endeavour  to  amend  the  old  ones. 
Their  numbers  were  so  great,  their  riches  and  interests  in  the 


THE   PREFACE.  13 

nation  so  considerable,  that  a  prince  of  ordinary  metal  would 
not  have  attempted  such  a  design,  much  less  have  completed  it 
in  five  years'  time.  With  these  fell  the  superstition  of  images, 
relics,  and  the  redemption  of  souls  out  of  purgatory.  And 
those  extravagant  addresses  to  saints  that  are  in  the  Roman 
offices  were  thrown  out ;  only  an  Orapro  nobis  was  kept  up,  and 
even  that  was  left  to  the  liberty  of  priests  to  leave  it  out  of  the 
litanies  as  they  saw  cause.  These  were  great  preparations  for 
a  reformation.  But  it  went  further ;  and  two  things  were 
done,  upon  which  a  greater  change  was  reasonably  to  be  ex- 
pected. The  scriptures  were  translated  into  the  English 
tongue,  and  set  up  in  all  churches,  and  every  one  was  admitted 
to  read  them,  and  they  alone  were  declared  the  rule  of  faith. 
This  could  not  but  open  the  eyes  of  the  nation  ;  who,  finding  a 
profound  silence  in  these  writings  about  many  things,  and  a 
direct  opposition  to  other  things  that  were  still  retained,  must 
needs  conclude,  even  without  deep  speculations  or  nice  disputing, 
that  many  things  that  were  still  in  the  church  had  no  ground 
in  scripture,  and  some  of  the  rest  were  directly  contrary  to  it. 
This  Cranmer  knew  well  would  have  such  an  operation,  and 
therefore  made  it  his  chief  business  to  set  it  forward,  which  in 
conclusion  he  happily  effected. 

Another  thing  was  also  established,  which  opened  the  way 
to  all  that  followed ;  that  every  national  church  was  a  complete 
body  within  itself:  so  that  the  church  of  England,  with  the 
authority  and  concurrence  of  their  head  and  king,  might  ex- 
amine and  reform  all  errors  and  corruptions,  whether  in  doctrine 
or  worship.  All  the  provincial  councils  in  the  ancient  church 
were  so  many  precedents  for  this,  who  condemned  heresies, 
and  reformed  abuses,  as  the  occasion  required.  And  yet  these 
being  all  but  parts  of  one  empire,  there  was  less  reason  for  their 
doing  it,  without  staying  for  a  general  council,  which  depended 
upon  the  pleasure  of  one  man,  (the  Roman  emperor,)  than 
could  be  pretended  when  Europe  was  divided  into  so  many 
kingdoms ;  by  which  a  common  concurrence  of  all  these 
churches  was  a  thing  scarce  to  be  expected :  and  therefore 
this  church  must  be  in  a  very  ill  condition,  if  there  could  be 
no  endeavours  for  a  reformation  till  all  the  rest  were  brought 
together. 

The  grounds  of  the  new  covenant  between  God  and  man  in 


14  THE   PREFACE. 

Christ  were  also  truly  stated,  and  the  terms  on  which  salvation 
was  to  be  hoped  for  were  faithfully  opened  according  to  the 
New  Testament.  And  this  being,  in  the  strict  .notion  of  the 
word,  the  gospel,  and  the  glad  tidings  preached  through  our 
blessed  Lord  and  Saviour,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  was 
a  great  progress  made,  when  the  nation  was  well  instructed 
about  it ;  though  there  was  still  an  alloy  of  other  corruptions, 
embasing  the  purity  of  the  faith.  And  indeed,  in  the  whole 
progress  of  these  changes,  the  king's  design  seemed  to  have 
been  to  terrify  the  court  of  Rome,  and  cudgel  the  pope  into  a 
compliance  with  what  he  desired  :  for  in  his  heart  he  continued 
addicted  to  some  of  the  most  extravagant  opinions  of  that 
church,  such  as  transubstantiation  and  the  other  corruptions  in 
the  mass  ;  so  that  he  was  to  his  life's  end  more  papist  than 
protestant. 

There  are  two  prejudices,  which  men  have  generally  drunk 
in  against  that  time.  The  one  is,  from  the  king's  great  enor- 
mities, both  in  his  personal  deportment  and  government ;  which 
make  many  think  no  good  could  be  done  by  so  ill  a  man,  and 
so  cruel  a  prince.  I  am  not  to  defend  him,  nor  to  lessen  his 
faults.  The  vastness  and  irregularity  of  his  expense  procured 
many  heavy  exactions,  and  twice  extorted  a  public  discharge 
of  his  debt,  embased  the  coin,  with  other  irregularities.  His 
proud  and  impatient  spirit  occasioned  many  cruel  proceedings. 
The  taking  so  many  lives,  only  for  denying  his  supremacy, 
particularly  Fisher's  and  More's,  the  one  being  extreme  old, 
and  the  other  one  of  the  glories  of  his  nation  for  probity  and 
learning :  the  taking  advantage,  from  some  irruptions  in  the 
north,  to  break  the  indemnity  he  had  before  proclaimed  to 
those  in  the  rebellion,  even  though  they  could  not  be  proved 
guilty  of  those  second  disorders :  his  extreme  severity  to  all 
cardinal  Pole's  family :  his  cruel  using,  first  Cromwell,  and 
afterwards  the  duke  of  Norfolk  and  his  son,  besides  his  un- 
exampled proceedings  against  some  of  his  wives ;  and  that 
Avhich  was  worst  of  all,  the  laying  a  precedent  for  the  subver- 
sion of  justice,  and  oppressing  the  clearest  innocence,  by  at- 
tainting; men  without  hearing;  them  :  these  arc  such  remarkable 
blemishes,  that,  as  no  man  of  ingenuity  can  go  about  the 
whitening  them,  so  the  poor  reformers  drunk  so  deep  of  that 
bitter  cup,  that  it  very  ill  becomes  any  of  their  followers  to 


THE   PREFACE.  15 

endeavour  to  give  fair  colours  to  those  red  and  bloody  charac- 
ters, with  which  so  much  of  his  reign  is  stained. 

Yet,  after  all  this  sad  enumeration,  it  was  no  new  nor  unusual 
thing  in  the  methods  of  God's  providence,  to  employ  princes 
who  had  great  mixtures  of  very  gross  faults  to  do  signal  things 
for  his  service.  Not  to  mention  David  and  Solomon,  whose 
sins  were  expiated  with  a  severe  repentance  ;  it  was  the  bloody 
Cyrus  that  sent  back  the  Jews  to  their  land,  and  gave  them 
leave  to  rebuild  their  temple.  Constantine  the  Great  is  by 
some  of  his  enemies  charged  with  many  blemishes  both  in  his 
life  and  government.  Clovis  of  France,  under  whom  that 
nation  received  the  Christian  faith,  was  a  monster  of  cruelty 
and  perfidiousness,  as  even  Gregory  of  Tours  represents  him,  [Opp.  p.  78. 
who  lived  near  his  time,  and  nevertheless  makes  a  saint  of  him.  e  "  ]  "^ 
Charles  the  Great,  whom  some  also  make  a  saint,  both  put 
away  his  wife  for  a  very  slight  cause,  and  is  said  to  have  lived 
in  most  unnatural  lusts  with  his  own  daughter.  Irene,  whom 
the  Church  of  Rome  magnifies  as  the  restorer  of  their  religion 
in  the  east,  did,  both  contrary  to  the  impressions  of  nature  and 
of  her  sex,  put  out  her  own  son's  eyes,  of  which  he  died  soon 
after  ;  with  many  other  execrable  things.  And  whatever  re- 
proaches those  of  the  church  of  Rome  cast  on  the  reformation, 
upon  the  account  of  this  king's  faults,  may  be  easily  turned 
back  on  their  popes,  who  have  never  failed  to  court  and  extol 
princes  that  served  their  ends,  how  gross  and  scandalous  soever 
their  other  faults  have  been :  as  Phocas,  Brunichild,  Irene, 
Mathildis,  Edgar  of  England,  and  many  more.  But  our  church 
is  not  near  so  much  concerned  in  the  persons  of  those  princes, 
under  whom  the  reformation  began,  as  theirs  is  in  the  persons 
of  their  popes,  who  are  believed  to  have  far  higher  characters 
of  a  divine  power  and  spirit  in  them,  than  other  princes  pretend 
to.  And  yet  if  the  lives  of  those  popes,  who  have  made  the 
greatest  advances  in  their  jurisdiction,  be  examined,  particularly 
Gregory  the  Seventh,  and  Boniface  the  Eighth,  vices  more 
eminent  than  any  can  be  charged  on  king  Henry  will  be 
found  in  them.  And  if  a  lewd  and  wicked  pope  may  yet  have 
the  Holy  Ghost  dwelling  in  him,  and  directing  him  infallibly ; 
why  may  not  an  ill  king  do  so  good  a  work  as  set  a  reformation 
forward?  And  if  it  were  proper  to  enter  into  a  dissection  of 
four  of  those  popes  that  sat  at  Rome  during  this  reign,  pope 


16  THE   PREFACE. 

Julius  will  be  found  beyond  him  in  a  vast  ambition ;  whose 
bloody  reign  did  not  only  embroil  Italy,  but  a  great  part  of 
Christendom.  Pope  Leo  the  Tenth  was  as  extravagant  and 
prodigal  in  his  expense,  which  put  him  on  baser  shifts,  than 
ever  this  king  used,  to  raise  money ;  not  by  embasing  the  coin, 
or  raising  new  and  heavy  taxes,  but  by  embasing  the  Christian 
religion  and  prostituting  the  pardon  of  sin  in  that  foul  trade  of 
indulgences.  Clement  the  Seventh  was  false  to  the  highest 
degree ;  a  vice  which  cannot  be  charged  on  this  king :  and 
Paul  the  Third  was  a  vile  and  lewd  priest,  who  not  only  kept 
his  whore,  but  gloried  in  it,  and  raised  one  of  his  bastards  to 
an  high  dignity,  making  him  Prince  of  Parma  and  Piacenza ; 
and  himself  is  said  to  have  lived  in  incest  with  others  of  them. 
And  except  the  short  reign  of  Adrian  the  Sixth,  there  was  no 
pope  at  Rome  all  this  while,  whose  example  might  make  any 
other  prince  blush  for  his  faults  :  so  that  Guicciardini,  when  he 
[p.  665.  ed.  calls  pope  Clement  a  good  pope,  adds,  i"  mean  not  goodness 
16  "si  apostolical;  for  in  those  days  he  was  esteemed  a  good  pope 
that  did  not  exceed  the  wickedness  of  the  ivorst  of  men15. 

In  sum,  God's  ways  are  a  great  deep ;  who  has  often  showed 
his  power  and  wisdom  in  raising  up  unlikely  and  unpromising 
instruments  to  do  great  services  in  the  world  ;  not  always  em- 
ploying the  best  men  in  them,  lest  good  instruments  should 
share  too  deep  in  the  praises  of  that,  which  is  only  due  to  the 
supreme  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  world :    and  therefore 
[Isa.  xxiii.  he  will  stain  the  pride  of  all  glory,  that  such  as  glory  may 
Fa  Cor  x     onty  9^ory  in  ^ie  Lord.     Jehu  did  an  acceptable  service  to 
17.]  God  in  destroying  the  idolatry  of  Baal;  though  neither  the 

way  of  doing  it  be  to  be  imitated,  being  grossly  insincere,  nor 
was  the  reformation  complete,  since  the  worshipping  the  two 
calves  was  still  kept  up ;  and  it  is  very  like,  his  chief  design 
in  it  was  to  destroy  all  the  party  that  favoured  Ahab's  family  : 
yet  the  thing  was  good,  and  was  rewarded  by  God.  So,  what- 
ever this  king's  other  faults  were,  and  how  defective  soever 
the  change  he  made  was,  and  upon  what  ill  motives  soever  it 

15  [This  seems  to  be  taken  from  rupted  times,  the  goodnesse  of  the 

the  English  translation  by  Fenton ;  pope  is  praised  when  it  exceeds  not 

the    exact   words    are    as    follows,  the  malignitie  of  other  men)  was  the 

'  that  which  made  him  seeme  a  good  opinion  that  was  conceived  of  his 

prince  (I  speake  not  of  Apostolike  clemencie,'  &c] 
goodnesse,  for  that  in  those  cor- 


THE  PREFACE.  17 

may  seem  to  have  proceeded ;  yet  the  things  themselves  being 
good,  we  ought  not  to  think  the  worse  of  them  because  of  the 
instrument,  or  manner  by  which  they  were  wrought ;  but  are 
to  adore  and  admire  the  paths  of  the  divine  wisdom,  that 
brought  about  such  a  change  in  a  church,  which,  being  sub- 
jected to  the  sec  of  Rome,  had  been  more  than  any  other  part 
of  Europe  most  tame  under  its  oppressions,  and  was  most 
deeply  drenched  in  superstition :  and  this  by  the  means  of  a 
prince,  who  was  the  most  devoted  to  the  interest  of  Rome  of 
any  in  Christendom,  and  seemed  to  be  so  upon  knowledge, 
being  very  learned,  and  continued  to  the  last  much  leavened 
with  superstition ;  and  was  the  only  king  in  the  world  whom 
that  sec  declared  defender  of  the  faith.  And  that  this  should 
have  been  carried  on  so  far  with  so  little  opposition;  some 
risings,  though  numerous  and  formidable,  being  scattered  and 
quieted  without  blood ;  and  that  a  mighty  prince,  who  was 
victorious  almost  in  all  his  undertakings,  Charles  the  Fifth, 
and  was  both  provoked  in  point  of  honour  and  interest,  yet 
could  never  find  one  spare  season  to  turn  his  arms  upon  Eng- 
land ;  are  great  demonstrations  of  a  particular  influence  of 
Heaven  in  these  alterations,  and  of  its  watchful  care  of  them. 

But  the  other  prejudice  touches  the  reformation  in  a  more 
vital  and  tender  part :  and  it  is,  that  Cranmer  and  the  other 
bishops,  who  promoted  the  reformation  in  the  succeeding  reign, 
did  in  this  comply  too  servilely  with  king  Henry's  humours, 
both  in  carrying  on  his  frequent  divorces,  and  in  retaining 
those  corruptions  in  the  worship,  which,  by  their  throwing 
them  off  in  the  beginning  of  king  Edward's  reign,  we  may 
conclude  were  then  condemned  by  them ;  so  that  they  seem 
to  have  prevaricated  against  their  consciences  in  that  com- 
pliance. 

It  were  too  faint  a  way  of  answering  so  severe  a  charge,  to 
turn  it  back  on  the  church  of  Rome,  and  to  shew  the  base 
compliances  of  some,  even  of  the  best  of  their  popes  ;  as  Gre- 
gory the  Great,  whose  congratulations  to  the  usurper  Phocas16 
are  a  strain  of  the  meanest  and  undecentest  flattery  that  ever 
was  put  in  writing  ;  and  his  compliments  to  Brunichild1?,  who 

16  [Vide   epist.   31.   ad    Phocam  17  [Videepist.  5.  ad  Brunichildem 

imperatorem,  Opp.  torn.  ii.  p.  1238.      Reginam,  ibid.  p.  794.] 
ed.  Ben.  Par.  1705.] 

BURNET,  PART  I.  C 


18  THE  PREFACE. 

was  one  of  the  greatest  monsters  both  for  lust  and  cruelty  that 
ever  her  sex  produced,  show  that  there  was  no  person  so 
wicked  that  he  was  ashamed  to  flatter :  but  the  blemishing 
them  will  not  (I  confess)  excuse  our  reformers ;  therefore  other 
things  arc  to  be  considered  for  their  vindication.  'They  did 
not  at  once  attain  the  full  knowledge  of  divine  truth,  so  that 
in  some  particulars,  as  in  that  of  the  corporal  presence  in  the 
sacrament,  both  Cranmer  and  Ridley  were  themselves  then  in 
the  dark  ;  Bertram's18  book  first  convinced  Ridley,  and  he  was 
the  chief  instrument  in  opening  Cranmer's  eyes  :  so  if  them- 
selves were  not  then  enlightened,  they  could  not  instruct  others. 
As  for  other  things,  such  as  the  giving  the  cup  to  the  laity, 
the  worshipping  God  in  a  known  tongue,  and  several  reforma- 
tions about  the  mass,  though  they  judged  them  necessary  to 
be  done  as  soon  as  was  possible,  yet  they  had  not  so  full  a  per- 
suasion of  the  necessity  of  these,  as  to  think  it  a  sin  not  to  do 
them.  The  prophet's  words  to  Naaman  the  Syrian  might  give 
them  some  colour  for  that  mistake ;  and  the  practice  of  the 
apostles,  who  continued  not  only  to  worship  at  the  temple,  but 
to  circumcise  and  to  offer  sacrifices,  (which  must  have  been 
done  by  St.  Paul,  Avhen  he  purified  himself  in  the  temple,)  even 
after  the  law  was  dead  by  the  appearing  of  the  gospel,  seemed 
to  excuse  their  compliance.  They  had  also  observed,  that  as 
[i  Cor.  x.  the  apostles  were  all  tilings  to  all  men,  that  so  they  might 
22'-'  gain  some;  so  the  primitive  Christians  had  brought  in  many 

rites  of  heathenism  into  their  worship :  upon  which  induce- 
ments they  were  wrought  on  to  comply  in  some  uneasy  things, 
in  which  if  these  excuses  do  not  wholly  clear  them,  yet  they 
very  much  lessen  their  guilt. 

And,  after  all  this,  it  must  be  confessed  they  were  men,  and 
had  mixtures  of  fear  and  human  infirmities  with  their  other 
excellent  qualities  :  and  indeed  Cranmer  was  in  all  other  points 
so  extraordinary  a  person,  that  it  was  perhaps  fit  there  should 
be  some  ingredients  in  his  temper  to  lessen  the  veneration, 
which  his  great  worth  might  have  raised  too  high,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  these  feeblenesses,  which  upon  some  occasions  ap- 
peared in  him.  But  if  we  examine  the  failings  of  some  of  the 
greatest  of  the  primitive  fathers,   as   Athanasius,   Cyril,   and 

17  [(Bertramus  seu  Ratramnus,  Domini.  A  translation  of  it  was 
presbyter.)    De  corpore  et  sanguine     published  8vo.  London,  1548.] 


THE  PREFACE.  19 

others,  who  were  the  most  zealous  assertors  of  the  faith,  we 
must  conclude  them  to  have  been  nothing  inferior  to  any  that 
can  be  charged  on  Cranmer  ;  whom  if  we  consider  narrowly, 
we  shall  find  as  eminent  virtues,  and  as  few  faults  in  him,  as  in 
any  prelate  that  has  been  in  the  Christian  church  for  many 
ages.  And  if  he  was  prevailed  on  to  deny  his  Master  through 
fear,  he  did  wash  off  that  stain  by  a  sincere  repentance  and  a 
patient  martyrdom,  in  which  he  expressed  an  eminent  resent- 
ment of  his  former  frailty,  with  a  pitch  of  constancy  of  mind 
above  the  rate  of  modern  examples. 

But  their  virtues,  as  well  as  their  faults,  are  set  before  us 
for  our  instruction  ;  and  how  frail  soever  the  vessels  were,  they 
have  conveyed  to  us  a  treasure  of  great  value,  the  pure  Gospel 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  :  which  if  we  follow,  and  govern  our 
lives  and  hearts  by  it,  we  may  hope  in  easier  and  plainer  paths 
to  attain  that  blessedness,  which  they  could  not  reach  but 
through  scorching  flames  ;  and  if  we  do  not  improve  the  ad- 
vantages which  this  light  affords,  avc  may  either  look  for  some 
of  those  trials,  which  wore  sent  for  the  exercise  of  their  faith 
and  patience,  and  perhaps  for  the  punishment  of  their  former 
compliance ;  or,  if  we  escape  these,  we  have  cause  to  fear  worse 
in  the  conclusion. 


C  2 


THE  HISTORY 


OF 


THE    REFORMATION 


OP 


THE   CHURCH   OF   ENGLAND. 


PART  L— BOOK   I. 


A  summary  view  of  king  Henry  the  Eighth's  reign,  till  the 
process  of  his  divorce  was  begun,  in  which  the  state  of 
England,  chiefly  as  it  related  to  religion,  is  opened. 

-CjNGLAND  had  for  a  whole  age  felt  the  miseries  of  a  long  King  Hen- 
and  cruel  war  between  the  two  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster  ;  *7 s  S,UCP® s" 

'  sion  to  the 

during  which  time,  as  the  crown  had  lost  great  dominions  be-  crown,  Apr. 

yond  sea,  so  the  nation  was  much  impoverished,  many  noble  ^Herbert 

families  extinguished,  much  blood  shed,  great  animosities  every  p-  2-  ed- 

.  .  ...  1682.1 

where  raised,  with  all  the  other  miseries  of  a  lasting  civil  war : 

but  they  now  saw  all  these  happily  composed  when  the  two 
families  did  unite  in  king  Henry  the  Eighth.  In  his  father's 
reign  they  were  rather  cemented  and  joined  than  united ; 
whose  great  partiality  to  the  house  of  Lancaster,  from  which 
he  was  descended,  and  severity  to  the  branches  of  the  house  of 
York,  in  which  even  his  own  queen  had  a  large  share,  together 
with  the  impostors  that  were  set  up  to  disturb  his  reign,  kept 
these  heats  alive,  which  were  now  all  buried  in  his  grave  :  and 
this  made  the  succession  of  his  son  so  universally  acceptable  to 
the  whole  nation,  who  now  hoped  to  revive  their  former  pre- 
tensions in  France,  and  to  have  again  a  large  share  in  all  the 


22  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

affairs  of  Europe,  from  which  their  domestic  broils  had  so  long 
excluded  them. 
He  pro-  There  was  another  thing,  which  made  his  first  coming  to  the 

C661 1 S  *X" 

gainstDud-  crown  no  less  acceptable,  which  was,  that  the  same  day  that 
ley  and       },js  father  died  he  ordered  DudW  and  Empson  to  be  com-  2 

Enipson.  . 

Hall  says,  mittcd  to  the  Tower.  His  father,  whether  out  of  policy,  or 
the  same  inclination,  or  both,  was  all  his  life  much  set  on  the  gathering 
505.  ed.  of  treasure,  so  that  those  ministers  were  most  acceptable,  who 
Herbert°U  cou^  fill  his  coffers  best ;  and  though  this  occasioned  some 
says,  the  tumults,  and  disposed  the  people  to  all  those  commotions  which 
ing,  [p.  5.]  foil  out  ill  his  reign ;  yet  he  being  successful  in  them  all,  con- 
tinued in  his  course  of  heaping  up  money. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  life,  ho  found  out  those  two  instru- 
ments, who  outdid  all  that  went  before  them  ;  and  what  by 
vexatious  suits  upon  penal  but  obsolete  laws,  what  by  unjust 
imprisonments,  and  other  violent  and  illegal  proceedings,  raised 
a  general  odium  upon  the  government ;  and  this  grew  upon 
him  with  his  years,  and  was  come  to  so  great  a  height  towards 
the  end  of  his  life,  that  he  died  in  good  time  for  his  own  quiet : 
for  as  he  used  all  possible  endeavours  to  get  money,  so  what  he 
got  he  as  carefully  kept,  and  distributed  very  little  of  it  among 
those  about  him  ;  so  that  he  had  many  enemies  and  but  few 
friends.  This  being  well  considered  by  his  son,  he  began  his 
government  with  the  disgrace  of  those  two  ministers,  against 
whom  he  proceeded  according  to  law ;  all  the  other  inferior 
officers  whom  they  had  made  use  of  were  also  imprisoned. 

When  they  had  thus  fallen,  many  and  great  complaints  came 
in  from  all  parts  against  them  ;  they  also,  apprehending  the 
danger  they  were  like  to  be  in  upon  their  master's  death,  had 
been  practising  with  their  partners  to  gather  about  them  all 
the  power  they  could  bring  together,  whether  to  secure  them- 
selves from  popular  rage,  or  to  make  themselves  seem  con- 
siderable, or  formidable  to  the  new  king.  This  and  other 
crimes  being  brought  in  against  them,  they  were  found  guilty 
of  treason  in  a  legal  trial.  But  the  king  judged  this  was 
neither  a  sufficient  reparation  to  his  oppressed  people,  nor 
satisfaction  to  justice :  therefore  he  went  further,  and  both 
Hall  [p.  ordered  restitution  to  be  made  by  his  father's  executors  of 
514-J  great  sums  of  money,  which  had  been  unjustly  extorted  from 

his  subjects ;    and  in  his  first  parliament,  which  he  summoned 


book  i.]  THE   REFORMATION.  23 

to  the  twenty-first  of  January  following,  he  not  only  delivered  He  holds  a 

up  Empson  and  Dudley,  with  their  complices,  to  the  justice  of  Jan.  2i      ' 

the  two  houses,  who  attainted  them  by  act  of  parliament,  and  a  'S10- 

little  after  gave  order  for  their  execution  ;  but  did  also  give 

his  royal  assent  to  those  other  laws,  by  which  the  subject  was  Aug.  18. 

secured  from  the  like  oppressions  for  the  future :    and,  that  he 

might  not  at  all  be  suspected  of  any  such  inclinations  as  his 

father  had  to  amass  treasure,  he  was  the  most  magnificent  in 

his  expense  of  any  prince  in  Christendom,  and  very  bountiful 

to  all  about  him ;    and  as    one   extreme  commonly  produces 

another,  so  his  father's  covetousness  led  him  to  be  prodigal ; 

and  the  vast  wealth  which  was  left  him,  being  reckoned  no  less 

than  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  was  in  three  His  great 

years  dissipated,  as  if  the  son  in  his  expense  had  vied  industry  exPense- 

with  his  father  in  all  his  thrift. 

Thomas  earl  of  Surrey,  (afterwards  duke  of  Norfolk,)  to 
shew  how  compliant  he  was  to  the  humours  of  the  princes 
whom  he  served,  as  he  had  been  lord  treasurer  to  the  father 
the  last  seven  years  of  his  life,  so  being  continued  in  the  same 
office  by  this  king,  did  as  dextrously  comply  with  his  prodi- 
gality, as  he  had  done  formerly  with  his  father's  sparingness. 
3  But  this  in  the  beginning  of  the  prince's  reign  did  much 
endear  him  both  to  the  court  and  nation ;  there  being  a  freer 
circulation  of  money,  by  which  trade  was  encouraged  ;  and  the 
courtiers  tasted  so  liberally  of  the  king's  bounty,  that  he  was 
every  where  much  magnified,  though  his  expense  proved  after- 
wards heavier  to  the  subject,  than  ever  his  father's  avarice  had 
been. 

Another  thing  that  raised  the  credit  of  this  king  was,  the  His  affairs 
great  esteem  he  was  in  beyond  sea,  both  for  his  wisdom  and   eyon  8ea* 
power ;  so  that  in  all  the  treaties  of  peace  and  war  he  was 
always  much  considered ;  and  he  did  so  exactly  pursue  that 
great  maxim  of  princes,  of  holding  the  balance,  that  still  as  it 
grew  heavier,  whether  in  the  scale  of  France  or  Spain,  he  go- 
verned himself  and  them  as  a  wise  arbiter.     His  first  action 
was  against  France,  which  by  the  accession  of  the  duchy  of  A  war  with 
Bretagne,  through  his  father's  oversight,  was  made  greater  " 
and  more  formidable  to  the  neighlbOiirin^1  ^pwrtc§s'";v  tliereio~rc_ 
the  French  successes  in  Italy  jfejiifinj^  $fijf$d  ftllRKe)  ^jaric^s."'- •• 
there  against  them,  Spain  ja^d/v^n^^jnd^^illii^y^jOiiVjd  them- 

j      AMEN  CORNER. 

REMOVED  Fr.-OM   THE 

{  p  EAD'ING   ROOM. 


24  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

selves  in  the  quarrel.     The  kingdom  of  Spain  being  also  then 
united,  conquered  Navarre,  which  set  them  at  great  case,  and 
weakened  the  king  of  France  on  that  side.     Whoso  affairs  also 
declining  in   Italy,   this  king  finding  him  so  much  lessened, 
made  peace  with  him,  having  first  managed  his  share  of  the 
war  with  great  honour  at  sea  and  land  :  for  going  over  in  per- 
son, he  did  both  defeat  the  French  army,  and  take  Terouenne 
Aug.  24.     and  Tournay ;  the  former  he  demolished,  the  latter  he  kept : 
552.]  and    an(l  'n  these  exploits  he  had  an  unusual  honour  done  him, 
Oct.  2,         which   though   it  was  a   slight  thing,  yet  was  very  pleasant 

1513.  [ibid.  .  b  a  s'    i  •       1  • 

p. 565.]  to  him;  Maximilian  the  emperor  taking  pay  in  his  army, 
amounting  to  a  hundred  crowns  a  day,  and  upon  all  public 
solemnities  giving  the  king  the  precedence. 

Aug-  7>  The  peace  between  England  and  France  was  made  firmer  by 

1 514. [ibid.  .  1     i  •       ,  •  -\r  1  •  1 

p.  569.]  a     -Louis  the  r  rencli  king  s  marrying  Mary  the  king  s  sister ;  but 
peace  and  j10  (|yjno-  soon  after,  new  counsels  were  to  be  taken.     Francis, 

a  match  •/      o 

with  who  succeeded,  did  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign  court  this 

OctoTibid  king  wu"n  great  offers  to  renew  the  peace  with  him,  which  was 
p-57°d       accordingly  done.     Afterward  Francis  falling  in  with  all  his 
Jan.  1, 1  -15.  force  upon  the  duchy  of  Milan,  all  endeavours  were  used  to 
[ibid.  p.       engage  king  Henry  into  the  war,  both  by  the  pope  and  em- 
peror, this  last  feeding  him  long  with  hopes  of  resigning  the 
empire  to  him,  which  wrought  much  on  him ;  insomuch  that  he 
did  give  them  a  great  supply  in  money,  but  he  could  not  be 
engaged  to  divert  Francis  by   making  war  upon  him :    and 
Francis  ending  the  war  of  Italy  by  a  peace,  was  so  far  from 
resenting  what  the  king  had  done,  that  he  courted  him  into  a 
Lady  Mary  straitcr  league,  and  a  match  was  agreed  between  the  dauphin 
to  the  dau-  an(l  the  lady  Mary  the  king's  daughter,   and  Tournay  was 
phin,Oct.8,  delivered  up  to  the  French  again. 

p.  595.]  But  now  Charles,  archduke  of  Austria  by  his  father,  and 

heir  to  the  house  of  Burgundy  by  his  grandmother,  and  to  the 
crown  of  Spain  by  his  mother,  began  to  make  a  great  figure  in 
Emperor     the  world  ;  and  his  grandfather  Maximilian  dying,  Francis  and 
12, 1 5 19.     ne  were  corrivals  for  the  empire  :    but  Charles  being  preferred 
[ibid.  p.       m    the    competition,   there   followed,    what   through  personal 
Charles       animosities,  what  through  reason  of  state,  and  a  desire  of  con- 
elected,       quest,  lasting  wars  between  them  ;  which  though  they  were 
sometimes  for  a  while  closed  up,  yet  were  never  clearly  ended.  4 
And  those  two  great  monarchs.  as  they  eclipsed  most  other 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  25 

princes  about  them,  so  they  raised  this  king's  glory  higher, 
both  courting  him  by  turns,  and  that  not  only  by  earnest  and 
warm  addresses,  but  oft  by  unusual  submissions  ;  in  which  they, 
knowing  how  great  an  ingredient  vanity  was  in  his  temper, 
were  never  deficient  when  their  affairs  required  it :    all  which 
tended  to  make  him  appear  greater  in  the  eyes  of  his  own 
people.     In  the  year  1520  there  was  an  interview  agreed  on  is20- 
between  the  French  king  and  him ;    but  the  emperor,  to  pre- 
vent the  effects  he  feared  from  it,  resolved  to  outdo  the  French 
king  in  the  compliment,  and  without  any  treaty  or  previous 
assurances  came  to  Dover,  and  solicited  the  king's  friendship  The  em- 
against  Francis ;    and  to  advance  his  design  gained   cardinal  [^'^ncT 
Wolsey,   who   then   governed  all  the  king's  counsels,  by  the  May  26. 
promise  of  making  him  pope ;  in  which  he  judged  he  might  g"j  P' 
for  a  present  advantage  promise  a  thing  that  seemed  to  bo  at 
so  great  a  distance,  (pope  Leo  the  Tenth  being  then  but  a 
young  man,)  and  with  rich  presents,  which  he  made  both  to 
the  king,  the  cardinal,  and  all  the  court,  wrought  much  on 
them.     But  that  which  prevailed  most  with  the  king  was,  that 
he  saw,  though  Charles  had  great  dominions,  yet  they  lay  at 
such  a  distance,  that  France  alone  was  a  sufficient  counterpoise 
to  him  ;  but  if  Francis  could  keep  Milan,  recover  Naples,  Bur- 
gundy, and  Navarre,  to  all  wdiich  he  was  then  preparing,  he 
would  be  an  uneasy  neighbour  to  himself;  and  if  he  kept  the 
footing  he  then  had  in  Italy,  he  would  lie  so  heavy  on  the 
papacy,  that  the  popes  could  no  longer  carry  equally  in  the 
affairs  of  Christendom,  upon  which  much  depended,  according 
to  the  religion  of  that  time.     Therefore  he  resolved  to  take 
part  with  the  emperor,  till  at  least  Francis  was  driven  out  of 
Italy,  and  reduced  to  juster  terms  :  so  that  the  following  inter-  June  7. 
view  between  Francis  and  him  produced  nothing  but  a  vast  J^g  i  P 
expense  and  high  compliments  :  and  from  a  second  interview 
betwreen  the  king  and  the  emperor,  Francis  was  full  of  jealousy,  July  10. 
in  which  what  followed  justified  his  apprehensions ;    for  the  $20\ 
war  going  on  between  the  emperor  and   Francis,  the   king 
entered  in  a  league   with   the   former,   and  made  war  upon  A  second 

T7!  war  with 

France.  France. 

But  the  pope  dying  sooner  than  it  seems  the  emperor  looked  Leo X. dies, 
for,  cardinal  Wolsey  claimed  his  promise  for  the  papacy;  but  ' 

before  the  messenger  came  to  him,  Adrian  the  emperor's  tutor 


26 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Adrian 
chosen 
pope,  Jan. 
9,  1522. 
He  died 
Sept.  14, 
I523- 


Clement 
VII.  cho- 
sen, Nov. 
19. 


1522. 


Emperor 
landed  at 
Dover, 
May  16. 
[ibid.  p. 

634-] 

The  empe- 
ror con- 
tracted to 
the  king's 
daughter, 
June  19. 
[ibid.  p. 
641.] 


May  6, 
1527.  [ibid. 
P-  7^5-] 


was  chosen  pope :  yet,  to  feed  the  cardinal  with  fresh  hopes,  a 
new  promise  was  made  for  the  next  vacancy,  and  in  the  mean 
while  he  was  put  in  hope  of  the  archbishopric  of  Toledo.  But 
two  years  after,  that  pope  dying,  the  emperor  again  broke  his 
word  with  him ;  yet  though  he  was  thereby  totally  alienated 
from  him,  he  concealed  his  indignation  till  the  public  concerns 
should  give  him  a  good  opportunity  to  prosecute  it  upon  a 
better  colour  ;  and  by  his  letters  to  Rome  dissembled  his  re- 
sentments ]  so  artificially,  that,  in  a  congratulation  he  wrote  to 
pope  Clement,  he  "  protested  his  election  was  matter  of  such 
"  joy  both  to  the  king  and  himself,  that  nothing  had  ever  be- 
"  fallen  them  which  pleased  them  better,  and  that  he  was  the 
"  very  person  whom  they  had  wished  to  see  raised  to  that 
"  greatness."  But  while  the  war  went  on,  the  emperor  did 
cajole  the  king  with  the  highest  compliments  possible,  which 
always  wrought  much  on  him,  and  came  in  person  into  England 
to  be  installed  knight  of  the  garter,  where  a  new  league  was 
concluded,  by  which,  beside  mutual  assistance,  a  match  was  5 
agreed  on  between  the  emperor  and  the  lady  Mary,  the  king^s 
only  child  by  his  queen,  of  whom  he  had  no  hopes  of  more 
issue.  This  was  sworn  to  on  both  hands,  and  the  emperor  was 
obliged,  when  she  was  of  age,  to  marry  her,  per  verba  de 
jyrcesenti,  under  pain  of  excommunication  and  the  forfeiture  of 
a  hundred  thousand  pounds-. 

The  war  went  on  with  great  success  on  the  emperor's  part, 
especially  after  the  battle  of  Pavia,  in  which  Francis"'  army  was 
totally  defeated,  and  himself  taken  prisoner  and  carried  into 
Spain.  After  which  the  emperor,  being  much  offended  with 
the  pope  for  joining  with  Francis,  turned  his  arms  against  him, 
which  were  so  successful,  that  he  besieged  and  took  Rome,  and 
kept  the  pope  prisoner  six  months. 

The  cardinal,  finding  the  public  interests  concur  so  happily 
with  his  private  distastes,  engaged  the  king  to  take  part  with 
France,  and  afterwards  with  the  pope  against  the  emperor,  his 


1  I  have  seen  a  collection  of  this 
cardinal's  letters ;  and  amongst  them 
the  same  letter,  1  suppose,  that  is 
here  quoted  ;  wherein  he  presses 
the  emperor's  and  the  king  his 
master's  interest,  with  great  zeal, 
and  solicits  the  new  elected  pope  to 


join  with  them  against  the  French ; 
and  that  in  such  a  manner  as  seems 
to  leave  no  room  for  dissimulation. 
To  the  same  purpose  in  the  follow- 
ing letter.  Collect.  MS.  pp.  27,  43. 
[B.] 
2  [See  part  111.  p.  33.] 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  27 

greatness  now  becoming  the  terror  of  Christendom  ;  for  the 
emperor,  lifted  up  with  his  success,  began  to  think  of  no  less 
than  an  universal  empire.  And  first,  that  he  might  unite  all 
Spain  together,  he  preferred  a  match  with  Portugal,  to  that 
which  he  had  before  contracted  in  England  :  and  he  thought 
it  not  enough  to  break  off  his  sworn  alliance  with  the  king,  but 
he  did  it  with  an  heavy  imputation  on  the  lady  Mary ;  for  in 
his  council  it  was  said  that  she  was  illegitimate,  as  being  born 
in  an  unlawful  marriage,  so  that  no  advantage  could  be  ex- 
pected from  her  title  to  the  succession,  as  will  appear  more 
particularly  in  the  second  book.  And  the  pope  having  dis- 
pensed with  the  oath,  he  married  the  infanta  of  Portugal. 
Besides,  though  the  king  of  England  had  gone  deep  in  the 
charge,  he  would  give  him  no  share  in  the  advantages  of  the 
wTar  ;  much  less  give  him  that  assistance  which  he  had  pro- 
mised him  to  recover  his  ancient  inheritance  in  France.  The 
king,  being  irritated  with  this  manifold  ill  usage,  and  led  on  by 
his  own  interests,  and  by  the  offended  cardinal,  joined  himself 
to  the  interests  of  France.  Upon  which  there  followed  not 
only  a  firm  alliance,  but  a  personal  friendship,  which  appeared 
in  all  the  most  obliging  expressions  that  could  be  devised.  And 
upon  the  king's  threatening  to  make  war  on  the  emperor,  the 
French  king  was  set  at  liberty,  though  on  very  hard  terms,  if  Mar.  iR. 
any  thing  can  be  hard  that  sets  a  king  out  of  prison;  but  he  * 5*  ' '  s 
still  acknowledged  he  owed  his  liberty  to  king  Henry. 

Then  followed  the  famous  Clementine  league  between  the  The  Cle- 
pope  and  Francis,  the  Venetians,  the  Florentines,  and  Francis  w^"6 
Sforza,  duke  of  Milan,  by  which  the  pope  absolved  the  French  May  22, 
king  from  the  oath  he  had  sworn  at  Madrid,  and  they  all  united 
against  the  emperor,  and  declared  the  king  of  England  pro- 
tector of  the  league.     This  gave  the  emperor  great  distaste, 
who  complained  of  the  pope  as  an  ungrateful  and  perfidious 
person.     The  first  beginning  of  the  storm  fell  heavy  on  the 
pope  ;  for  the  French  king,  who  had  a  great  mind  to  have  his 
children  again  into  his  own  hands,  that  lay  hostages  in  Spain, 
wrcnt  on  but  slowly  in  performing  his  part.     And  the  king  of 
England  would  not  openly  break  with  the  emperor,  but  seemed 
to  reserve  himself  to  be  arbiter  between  the  princes.     So  that 
the  Colonnas,  being  of  the  imperial  faction,  with  three  thousand  Sept.  20. 
men  entered  Rome,  and  sacked  a  part  of  it,  forcing  the  pope 


28 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


1527.  [Her 
bert,  p. 
201.] 


Rome 
taken  and 
sacked, 
May  6. 
[Hall,  p. 
725.] 


July  1 1 . 


Dec.  9. 
[Herbert, 
p.  214.] 


The  king': 
success 
against 
Scotland. 


to  fly  into  the  castle  of  St.  Angclo,  and  to  make  peace  with  the  6 
emperor.  But  as  soon  as  that  fear  was  over,  the  pope  return- 
ing to  his  old  arts,  complained  of  the  cardinal  of  Colonna,  and 
resolved  to  deprive  him  of  that  dignity,  and  with  an  army 
entered  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  taking  divers  places  that  he- 
longed  to  that  family.  But  the  confederates  coming  slowly  to 
his  assistance,  and  he  hearing  of  great  forces  that  were  coming 
from  Spain  against  him,  submitted  himself  to  the  emperor,  and 
made  a  cessation  of  arms ;  but  being  again  encouraged  with 
some  hopes  from  his  allies,  and  (by  a  creation  of  fourteen 
cardinals  for  money)  having  raised  three  hundred  thousand 
ducats,  he  disowned  the  treaty,  and  gave  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  to  count  Vaudemont,  whom  he  sent  with  forces  to  sub- 
due it :  but  the  duke  of  Bourbon  prevented  him,  and  went  to 
Rome  ;  and  giving  the  assault,  in  which  himself  received  his 
mortal  wound,  the  city  was  taken  by  storm,  and  plundered 
for  several  days,  about  five  thousand  being  killed.  The  pope 
with  seventeen  cardinals  fled  to  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  but 
was  forced  to  render  his  person,  and  to  pay  four  hundred 
thousand  ducats  to  the  army. 

This  gave  great  offence  to  all  the  princes  of  Christendom, 
except  the  Lutherans  of  Germany ;  but  none  resented  it  more 
loudly  than  this  king,  who  sent  over  cardinal  Wolsey  to  make 
up  a  new  treaty  with  Francis,  which  was  chiefly  intended  for 
setting  the  pope  at  liberty.  Nor  did  the  emperor  know  well 
how  to  justify  an  action  which  seemed  so  inconsistent  with  his 
devotion  to  the  see  of  Home  ;  yet  the  pope  was  for  some 
months  detained  a  prisoner,  till  at  length  the  emperor,  having 
brought  him  to  his  own  terms,  ordered  him  to  be  set  at  liberty  : 
but  he,  being  weary  of  his  guards,  escaped  in  a  disguise,  and 
owned  his  liberty  to  have  flowed  chieflv  from  the  kino-'s  endea- 
vours  to  procure  it.  And  thus  stood  the  king  as  to  foreign 
affairs  :  he  had  infinitely  obliged  both  the  pope  and  the  French 
king,  and  was  firmly  united  to  them,  and  engaged  in  a  war 
against  the  emperor,  when  he  began  first  to  move  about  his 
divorce. 

As  for  Scotland,  the  near  alliance  between  him  and  James 
the  Fourth,  king  of  Scotland,  did  not  take  away  the  standing 
animosities  between  the  two  nations,  nor  interrupt  the  alliance 
between  France  and  Scotland.     And  therefore,  when  he  made 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  29 

the  first  war  upon  France,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  the  Sept.  g, 
king  of  Scotland  came  with  a  great  army  into  the  north  of  'SI3' 
England,  but  was  totally  defeated  by  the  earl  of  Surrey  in 
Flodden  Field.  The  king  himself  was  either  killed  in  the  battle, 
or  soon  after ;  so  that  the  kingdom  falling  under  factions,  dur- 
ing the  minority  of  the  new  king,  the  government  was  but 
feeble,  and  scarce  able  to  secure  its  own  quiet.  And  the  duke 
of  Albany,  the  chief  instrument  of  the  French  faction,  met  with 
such  opposition  from  the  parties  that  were  raised  against  him 
by  king  Henry's  means,  that  he  could  give  him  no  disturbance. 
And  when  there  came  to  be  a  lasting  peace  between  England 
and  France,  then,  as  the  king  needed  fear  no  trouble  from  that 
warlike  nation,  so  he  got  a  great  interest  in  the  government 
there.  And  at  this  time  money  becoming  a  more  effectual 
engine  than  any  the  war  had  ever  produced,  and  the  discovery 
of  the  Indies  having  brought  great  wealth  into  Europe,  princes 
began  to  deal  more  in  that  trade  than  before ;  so  that  both 
France  and  England  had  their  instruments  in  Scotland,  and 
gave  considerable  yearly  pensions  to  the  chief  heads  of  parties 
7  and  families.  In  the  search  I  have  made,  I  have  found  several 
warrants  for  sums  of  money,  to  be  sent  into  Scotland,  and 
divided  there  among  the  favourers  of  the  English  interest ;  and 
it  is  not  to  be  doubted  but  France  traded  in  the  same  manner ; 
which  continued  till  a  happier  way  was  found  out  for  extin- 
guishing these  quarrels ;  both  the  crowns  being  set  on  one 
head. 

Having  thus  shewed  the  state  of  this  king's  government  as  His  coun- 
to  foreign  matters,  I  shall  next  give  an  account  of  the  adminis-  ?®  * 
tration  of  affairs  at  home,  both  as  to  civil  and  spiritual  matters. 
The  king,  upon  his  first  coming  to  the  crown,  did  choose  a 
Aviso  council,  partly  out  of  those  whom  his  father  had  trusted, 
partly  out  of  those  that  were  recommended  to  him  by  his 
grandmother,  the  countess  of  Richmond  and  Derby,  in  whom 
was  the  right  of  the  house  of  Lancaster,  though  she  willingly 
devolved  her  pretensions  on  her  son,  claiming  nothing  to  her- 
self, but  the  satisfaction  of  being  mother  to  a  king.  She  was 
a  wise  and  religious  woman,  and  died  soon  after  her  grandson 
came  to  the  crown.  There  was  a  faction  in  the  council  between 
Fox  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  the  lord  treasurer,  which  could 
never  be  well  made  up.  though  they  were  oft  reconciled:  Fox 


so 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[fart  I. 


Jan.  2 1 , 
1510. 


Feb.  4, 
1512. 
[Herbert, 
p.  19.] 


[Cap.  22. 

Statutes, 

vol.  iii.  p. 

43-] 

Cardinal 

Wolsey's 

rising. 


always  complaining  of  the  lord  treasurer,  for  squandering  away 
so  soon  that  vast  mass  of  treasure,  left  by  the  king's  father  ; 
in  which  the  other  justified  himself,  that  what  he  did  was  by 
the  king's  warrants,  which  he  could  not  disobey :  but  Fox 
objected,  that  he  was  too  easy  to  answer,  if  not  to  procure 
these  warrants,  and  that  he  ought  to  have  given  the  king 
better  advice.  In  the  king's  first  parliament  things  went  as 
he  desired  upon  his  delivering  up  Empson  and  Dudley,  in 
which  his  preventing  the  severity  of  the  houses,  and  proceed- 
ing against  them  at  the  common  law,  as  it  secured  his  ministers 
from  an  unwelcome  precedent,  so  the  whole  honour  of  it  fell 
on  the  king's  justice. 

His  next  parliament  was  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  and 
there  was  considered  the  brief  from  pope  Julius  the  Second  to 
the  king,  complaining  of  the  indignities  and  injuries  done  to 
the  apostolic  see  and  the  pope  by  the  French  king,  and  en- 
treating the  king's  assistance  with  such  cajoling  words  as  are 
always  to  be  expected  from  popes  on  the  like  occasions.  It 
was  first  read  by  the  master  of  the  rolls  in  the  house  of  lords, 
and  then  the  lord  chancellor  (Warham,  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury) and  the  lord  treasurer,  with  other  lords,  went  down 
to  the  house  of  commons  and  read  it  there.  Upon  this  and 
other  reasons  they  gave  the  king  subsidies  towards  the  war 
with  France.  At  this  time  Fox,  to  strengthen  his  party  against 
the  lord  treasurer,  finding  Thomas  Wolsey  to  be  a  likely  man 
to  get  into  the  king's  favour,  used  all  his  endeavours  to  raise 
him,  who  was  at  that  time  neither  unknown  nor  inconsiderable, 
being  lord3  almoner  ;  he  was  at  first  made  a  privy  counsellor, 
and  frequently  admitted  to  the  king's  presence,  and  waited  on 
him  over  to  France.  The  king  liked  him  well,  which  he  so 
managed  that  he  quickly  engrossed  the  king's  favour  to  him- 
self, and  for  fifteen  years  together  was  the  most  absolute 
favourite  that  had  ever  been   seen  in  England :    all  foreign 


3  It  is  questionable  whether  the 
almoner  was  then  called  lord,  and 
more  questionable  whether  Wolsey 
were  then  almoner,  when  he  was 
thus  recommended  to  the  king's 
favour;  for  Polydore  Vergil,  who 
lived  in  England  at  that  time  or 
very  near  it,  says  he  was  chaplain  to 
king  Henry  the  Seventh,  and  now 


made  almoner  to  king  Henry  the 
Eighth,  being  before  that  time  dean  of 
Lincoln,  made  so  2  Feb.  1508,  install- 
ed by  proxy  25  March  1509,  and 
personally  21  August  1511,  and  so 
only  he  is  styled  in  the  university 
register  12  April  i.^ro  when  he  was 
made  bachelor  of  divinity.    [F]. 


book  i.]  THE   REFORMATION.  81 

treaties  and  places  of  trust  at  home  were  at  his  ordering  ;  he 
did  what  he  pleased,  and  his  ascendant  over  the  king  was  such, 
that  there  never  appeared  any  party  against  him  all  that 
while.  The  great  artifice  by  which  he  insinuated  himself  so 
much  on  the  king,  is  set  down  very  plainly  by  one  that  knew 
Shim  well,  in  these  words:  In  him  the  king  conceived  such  a  Caven- 

]■    1  '      T  'f 

loving  fancy,  especially  for  that  he  was  most  earnest  and  0fVolsev 

readiest  in  all  the  council  to  advance  the  king's  only  ivill  and  MSS.  in 

pleasure,  having  no  respect  to  the  case; and  whereas  the  nob.  d.g. 

ancient  counsellors  would,  according  to  the  office   of  good  Pinpoint. 

counsellors,  divers  times  persuade  the  king  to  have  sometime  18, 19.  ed. 

a  recourse  unto  the  council,  there  to  hear  what  was  done  in  Sni8'er> 

1825.] 

weighty  matters,  the  king  was  nothing  at  all  pleased  there- 
with; for  he  loved  nothing  worse  than  to  be  constrained  to  do 
any  thing  contrary  to  his  pleasure,  and  that  knew  the  almoner 
very  well,  having  secret  insinuations  of  the  king's  intentions ; 
and  so  fast  as  the  others  counselled  the  king  to  leave  his 
pleasures,  and  to  attend  his  affairs,  so  busily  did  the  almoner 
persuade  him  to  the  contrary,  which  delighted  him  much,  and 
caused  him  to  have  the  greater  affection  and  love  to  the 
almoner4.  Having  got  into  such  power,  he  observed  the  king's 
inclinations  exactly,  and  followed  his  interests  closely  :  for 
though  he  made  other  princes  retain  him  with  great  presents 
and  pensions,  yet  he  never  engaged  the  king  into  any  alliance 
but  what  was  for  his  advantage.  For  affairs  at  home,  after  he 
was  established  in  his  greatness,  he  affected  to  govern  without 
parliaments ;  there  being  from  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign, 
after  which  he  got  the  great  seal,  but  one  parliament  in  the  [April  15, 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  year,  and  no  more  till  the  one  and 
twentieth,  when  matters  were  turning  about :  but  he  raised  tNov-  3. 
great  sums  of  money  by  loans  and  benevolences.  And  indeed  * 
if  we  look  on  him  as  a  minister  of  state,  he  was  a  very  extra- 
ordinary person ;  but  as  he  was  a  churchman,  he  was  the 
disgrace  of  his  profession.  He  not  only  served  the  king  in  all 
his  secret  pleasures,  but  was  lewd  and  vicious  himself;  so  that 
his  having  the  French  pox  (which  in  those  days  was  a  matter 
of  no  small  infamy)  was  so  public,  that  it  was  brought  against 

4    [This   passage   is   not   quoted  account  of  the  MS.  copies  of  this 

verbatim.     See  Wordswoi-th's    Ec-  life  of  Wolsey,  also  the  preface  to 

clesiastical  Biography, vol.  i.  pp.334,  Singer's  edition.] 
335.     Vid.  ibid.  pp.  321,  322,  for  an 


32  THE   HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

him  in  parliament  when  he  fell  in  disgrace :    he  was  a  man  of 

most  extravagant  vanity,   as  appears  by  the  great  state  he 

lived  in ;    and  to  feed  that,  his  ambition  and  covetousness  were 

proportionable. 

Oct.  15 13.        He  was  first  made  bishop  of  Tournay,  when  that  town  was 

a  Rest.        taken  from  the  French  ;  then  he  was  made  bishop  of  aLincoln, 

temp.  which  was  the  first  bishopric  that  fell  void  in  this  kingdom  ; 

5!  regni.      after  that,  upon  cardinal  Bambridgc's  death,  he  parted  with 

iio^Pat      Lincoln,  and   was  made  archbishop  of  b  York  ;  then  Adrian, 

[Feb.  1,       that  was  a  cardinal  and  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,   being 

Rymer xiii.  deprived,    that  csee   was  given  to  him;    then  the  abbey   of 

p.  389.J       d  gt_  Alban's  was  given  to  him  in  commendam  :  he  next  parted 
bNov.  6.  .  .  .  , 

[5.]  regni,    with  Bath  and  Wells,  and  got  the  bishopric  of  e  Durham,  which 

^^r', .,  he  afterwards  exchanged  for  the  bishopric  of  f  Winchester : 

R.  P.  [ibid.  .  &  1        1       1  ■ 

p.  468.]       but  besides  all  that  he  had  in  his  own  hands,  the  king  granted 

°  Augc'r2?'  him  a  full  power  of  disposing  of  all  the  ecclesiastical  benefices 

1.  part.  in  England,  (which  brought  him  in  as  much  money  as  all  the 

p.  623.I  1  places  l*e  nekd  ;)  for  having  so  vast  a  power  committed  to  him 

11  Dec.  7.  both  from  the  king  and  the  pope  as  to  church  preferments,  it 

1.  part.  '  may  be  easily  gathered  what  advantages  a  man  of  his  temper 

R.  P.  [ibid.  Would  draw  from  it.     Warhani  was  lord  chancellor  the  first 

p.  760.J  .  ... 

e  Apr.  30.    seven  years  of  the  king's  reign,  but  retired  to  give  place  to  this 

1 5.  regni, 

2.  part. 

R.  P.  [ibid.      5  These  numbers  seem  question-     that   I    have    often    seen   cause   to 

p.  789.]        able;    the  temporalities  of  Lincoln     question — the  exactness  of  the  clerks 

Pr'    '•      are   said   to   be  restored  4  March,      in  the  enrolling  of  dates,  though  it 
20.  regni,  ..  »     ,         i         •  °        .  . 

1.  part.         5  reSm>  i»e.  iglf;  but  then  it  was      seems   a   presumption  to   question 

R.P.5  done  before  his  consecration  which  the  authority  of  a  record.  [Author.] 

[Id.  torn.      Godwin  [p.  300,  ed.  1743.]  says  was  [The  original  folio  edition  having 

xiv.  p.  290.]  t]ie  26\h  0f  March  that  year.     But  accidentally   omitted   5   before    the 

this  might  be  to  give  him  a  right  to  word    regni,    Fulman   mistook    the 

the  mean  profits  by  restoring   the  date  of  the  day  of  the  month  for 

temporalities beforelady-day, though  the  year  of  the  king's   reign,  and 

he  was  not  consecrated  till  the  26th.  Burnet     replied     without     having 

Before  November  there  should  be  noticed  the  mistake  which  had  been 

(6)  added,  for  on  that  day  was  he  continued  in  all  the  editions.     The 

translated  to  York.    And  whereas  it  third  questionable  date  referred  to 

is  said  he  had  the  bishopric  of  Win-  is   a   mistake  of  the  author's  who 

chester  May  4,  20  regni,  i.  e.  1528,  wrote  May  4  for  April  6.     As  the 

this  must  be  a  mistake,  for  Fox's  re-  king  came  to  the  crown  April  22. 

gister  reaches  to  the  9th  of  September  The  date  May  4  would  be  21  regn. 

that  year;  so  perhaps  it  was  4  March,  whilst  April  6  would  be   20  regn. 

20  regni,  i.  e.  in  March  152^.   [F].  For  a  further  account  of  Wolsey's 

But  I  took  all  these  dates  from  the  preferments,  see  part  iii.  p.  17. 

rolls ;   and   I   must  add   one   thing 


book  i.J  THE  REFORMATION.  33 

aspiring  favourite,  who  had  a  mind  to  the  great  seal,  that 
there  might  be  no  interfering  between  the  legatinc  and  chan- 
cery courts.     And  perhaps  it  wrought  somewhat  on  his  vanity,  [7  Dec. 
that  even  after  he  was  cardinal,  Warham  as  lord  chancellor  '5'  '■' 
took  place  of  him,  as  appears  from  the  entries  made  in  the 
9  journals  of  the  house  of  peers  in  the  parliament  held  the  seventh 
year  of  the  king's  reign,  and  afterwards  gave  him  place,  as  ap- 
pears on  many  occasions,  particularly  in  the  letter  written  to 
the  pope  1 530,   set  down   by  the   lord    Herbert,  which    the  [Herbert, 
cardinal   subscribed   before   Warham.     We   have  nothing  onp'331"^ 
record  to  shew  what  a  speaker  he  was,  for  all  the  journals  of 
parliament  from  the  seventh  to  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  this 
king  are  lost ;  but  it  is  like  lie  spoke  as  his  predecessor  in  that 
office,  Warham,  did,  whose  speeches,  as  they  are  entered  in 
the  journals,  are   sermons  begun  with  a  text   of  scripture ; 
which  he  expounded  and  applied  to  the  business  they  were  to 
go  upon,  stuffing  them  with  the  most  fulsome  flattery  of  the 
king  that  was  possible. 

The  next  in  favour  and  power  was  the  lord  treasurer,  re-  [Feb.  2, 
stored  to  his  father's  honour  of  duke  of  Norfolk,  to  whom  his  i/erbert 
son  succeeded  in  that  office  as  well  as  in  his  hereditary  honours ;  P-  49-1 
and  managed  his  interest  with  the  king  so  dextrously,  that  he 
stood  in  all  the  changes  that  followed,  and   continued   lord 
treasurer  during  the  reign  of  this  king,  till  near  the  end  of  it, 
when  he  fell  through  jealousy  rather  than  guilt :    this  shewed 
how  dextrous  a  man  he  was,  that  could  stand  so  long  in  that 
employment  under  such  a  king. 

But  the  chief  favourite  in  the  king's  pleasures  was  Charles 

Brandon,  a  gallant  graceful  person,  one  of  the  strongest  men 

of  the  age,  and  so  a  fit  match  for  the  king  at  his  jousts  and 

tiltings,  which  was  the  manly  diversion  of  that  time  ;    and  the 

king  taking  much  pleasure  in  it,  being  of  a  robust  body,  and 

singularly  expert  at  it,  he  was  so  able  to  second  him  in  these 

courses,  grew  mightily  in  his  favour,  so  that  he  made  him  first 

viscount  Lisle,  and  some  months  after  duke  of  Suffolk.     Nor  [Feb.  1, 

wras  he  less  in  the  ladies'  favours,   than  the  king's;  for  his  Rym*erxiii. 

sister  the  lady  Mary  liked  him,  and  being  but  so  long  married  p-  389.] 

,  1  »May  15. 

to  king  Louis  of  France,  as  to  make  her  queen  dowager  01  5.  reg. 

France,  she  resolved  to  choose  her  second  husband  herself,  and  *-_Part  Rot- 

cast  her  eye  on  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  who  was  then  sent  over  to 

BURNET,  PART  I.  D 


34  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

the  court  of  France.     Her  brother  had  designed  the  marriage 

between  them,  yet  would  not  openly  give  his  consent  to  it ; 

but  she  by  a  strange  kind  of  wooing  prefixed  him  the  term  of 

four  days  to  gain  her  consent,  in  which  she  told  him  if  he  did 

not  prevail,  he  should  for  ever  lose  all  his  hopes  of  having  her, 

though  after  such  a  declaration  he  was  like  to  meet  with  no 

Apr.  1 515.  great  difficulty  from  her.     So  they  were  married,  and  the  king 

was  easily  pacified,  and  received  them  into  favour  ;  neither  did 

Lady  Mary  his  favour  die  with  her,  for  it  continued  all  his  life:  but  he 

'e  jc^J16   never  meddled  much  in  business,  and,  by  all  that  appears,  was 

a  better  courtier  than  statesman.     Little  needs  be  said  of  any 

other  person  more  than  will  afterwards  occur. 

The  king  loved  to  raise  mean  persons,  and  upon  'the  least 

distaste  to  throw  them   down :    and  falling  into  disgrace,  he 

spared  not  to  sacrifice  them  to  public  discontents.     His  court 

was  magnificent,  and  his  expense  vast ;    he  indulged  himself  in 

his  pleasures  :    and  the  hopes  of  children   (besides  the  lady 

Mary)  failing  by  the  queen,  he,  who  of  all  things  desired  issue 

most,   kept   one    Elizabeth    Blunt,  by   whom   he  had   Henry 

June  18.      Fitzroy,  whom  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  reign  he  created 

EotPat      carl  °f  Nottingham,  and  the  same  day  made  him  duke  of  Rich- 

[part  1.       mond  and  Somerset,  and  intended  afterwards  to  have  put  him 

Duke  of      in  the  succession  of  the  crown  after  his  other  children  ;  but 

Richmond  his  death  prevented  it. 

died  July  r  . 

24, 1536.         As  for  his  parliament,  he  took  great  care  to  keep  a  good 

understanding  with  them,  and  chiefly  with  the  house  of  com-  10 
mons,  by  which  means  he  seldom  failed  to  carry  matters  as  he 
pleased  among  them :  only  in  the  parliament  held  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  of  his  reign,  the  demand  of  the  subsidy 
towards  the  war  with  France  being  so  high  as  eight  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  the  fifth  of  men's  goods  and  lands,  to  be  paid 
in  four  years,  and  the  cardinal  being  much  hated,  there  was  great 
opposition  made  to  it :  for  which  the  cardinal  blamed  sir  Thomas 
More  much,  who  was  then  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons ; 
and  finding  that  which  was  offered  was  not  above  the  half  of  what 
was  asked,  went  himself  to  the  house  of  commons,  and  desired 
to  hear  the  reasons  of  those  who  opposed  his  demands,  that  he 
might  answer  them  :  but  he  was  told  the  order  of  their  house 
was  to  reason  only  among  themselves,  and  so  went  away  much 
dissatisfied.     It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  they  obtained  a 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  35 

subsidy   of  three  shillings  in  the  pound,  to  be  paid  in  four  [Cap.  16. 
years.    This  disappointment,  it  seems,  did  so  offend  the  cardinal,  y0'j  ^   ' 
that  as  no  parliament  had  been  called  for  seven  years  before,  P-  23°-3 
so  there  was  none  summoned  for  seven  years  after.     And  thus 
stood  the  civil  government  of  England  in  the  nineteenth  year 
of  the  king's  reign,  when  the  matter  of  the  divorce  was  first 
moved.     But  I  shall  next  open  the  state  of  affairs  in  reference 
to  religious  and  spiritual  concerns. 

King  Henry  was  bred  with  more  care  than  had  been  usually  He  waa 
bestowed  on  the  education  of  princes  for  many  ages,  who  had  bred  a 
been  only  trained  up  to  those  exercises  that  prepared  them  to 
war ;  and  if  they  could  read  and  write,  more  was  not  expected 
of  them.     But  learning  began   now  to  flourish  ;    and  as  the 
house  of  Medici  in  Florence  had  great  honour  by  the  protec- 
tion it  gave  to  learned   men,   so  other  princes  every  where 
cherished  the  Muses.     King  Henry  the  Seventh,  though  illite- 
rate himself,  yet  took  care  to  have  his  children  instructed  in 
good  letters.     And  it  generally  passes  current,  that  he  bred  [Herbert, 
his  second  son  a  scholar,  having  designed  him  to  be  archbishop  {^J^rpj 
of  Canterbury  ;  but  that  has  no  foundation  ;  for  the  writers  of  p-  is-] 
that  time  tell,  that  his  elder  brother  prince  Arthur  was  also 
bred  a  scholar.     And  all  the  instruction  king  Henry  had  in 
learning  must  have  been  after  his  brother  was  dead,  when  that 
design  had  vanished  with   his  life.     For  he   being   born  the 
twenty-eighth   of  June  1491,   and  prince  Arthur    dying   the 
second  of  April  1502,  he  was  not  full  eleven  years  of  age  when 
he  became  prince  of  Wales'';  at  which  age  princes  have  sel- 
dom made  any  great  progress  in  learning.     But  king  Henry 
the  Seventh  judging  either  that  it  would  make  his  sons  greater 
princes,  and  fitter  for  the  management  of  their  affairs,  or  being 

6  Here  as  in  several  other  places,  princess    of   Wales  ;    for   when    a 

as  PP-  35>  36>  134?  208,  321,  it  is  family  was  appointed  for  her  1525, 

supposed  that  the  next  heir  of  the  Veysey,  bishop  of  Exeter,  her  tutor, 

crown  was  prince  of  Wales.     The  was  made  president  of  Wales.     She 

heir  apparent  of  the  crown  is  indeed  also  is  said  to  have  kept  her  house 

prince,  but  is  not  prince  of  Wales,  at  Ludlow  ;    and  Leland  says  that, 

strictly  speaking,  unless  he  has  it  Teken-hill,  a  house  in  those  parts 

given  him  hy  a  creation.     And  it  is  built  for  prince  Arthur,  was  repaired 

said  that  there  is  nothing  on  record  for  her.     And  Thomas  Linacre  de- 

to  prove  that  any  of  king  Henry's  dicates  his  Rudiments  of  Grammar 

children  were  ever  created  prince  of  to  her,  by  the  title  of  Cornwall  and 

Wales.      There    are   indeed    some  Wales.   [F.] 


hints  of  the  lady  Mary's  being  styled 


D  2 


36  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

jealous  of  their  looking  too  early  into  business,  or  their  pre- 
tending to  the  crown  upon  their  mother's  title,  which  might 
have  been  a  dangerous  competition  to  him,  that  was  so  little 
beloved  by  his  subjects,  took  this  method  for  amusing  them 
with  other  things  :  thence  it  was,  that  his  son  was  the  most 
learned  prince  that  had  been  in  the  world  for  many  ages,  and 
deserved  the  title  Beau-clerc,  on  a  better  account  than  his 
predecessor  that  long  before  had  carried  it.  The  learning 
then  in  credit  was  either  that  of  the  schools,  about  abstruse 
questions  of  divinity,  which  from  the  days  of  Lombard  were 
debated  and  descanted  on  with  much  subtlety  and  nicety,  and 
exercised  all  speculative  divines  ;  or  the  study  of  the  canon 
law,  which  was  the  way  to  business  and  preferment.  To  the 
former  of  these  the  king  was  much  addicted,  and  delighted  to  11 
read  often  in  Thomas  Aquinas ;  and  this  made  cardinal  Wolsey 
more  acceptable  to  him,  who  was  chiefly  conversant  in  that 
sort  of  learning.  He  loved  the  purity  of  the  Latin  tongue, 
which  made  him  be  so  kind  to  Erasmus,  that  was  the  great 
restorer  of  it,  and  to  Polydore  Vergil ;  though  neither  of  these 
made  their  court  dextrously  with  the  cardinal,  which  did  much 
intercept  the  king's  favour  to  them  ;  so  that  the  one  left  Eng- 
land, and  the  other  was  but  coarsely  used  in  it,  who  has  suffi- 
ciently revenged  himself  upon  the  cardinal's  memory.  The 
philosophy  then  in  fashion  was  so  intermixed  with  their  divinity, 
that  the  king  understood  it  too ;  and  was  also  a  good  musician, 
as  appears  by  two  whole  masses  which  he  composed.  He 
never  wrote  well,  but  scrawled  so  that  his  hand  was  scarce 
legible. 

Being  thus  inclined  to  learning,  he  was  much  courted  by  all 
hungry  scholars,  who  generally  over  Europe  dedicated  their 
books  to  him,  with  such  flattering  epistles,  that  it  very  much 
lessens  him,  to  see  how  he  delighted  in  such  stuff.  For  if  he 
had  not  taken  pleasure  in  it,  and  rewarded  them,  it  is  not 
likely  that  others  should  have  been  every  year  writing  after 
such  ill  copies.  Of  all  things  in  the  world  flattery  wrought 
most  on  him ;  and  no  sort  of  flattery  pleased  him  better  than 
to  have  his  great  learning  and  wisdom  commended.  And  in 
this,  his  parliaments,  his  courtiers,  his  chaplains,  foreigners 
and  natives,  all  seemed  to  vie  who  should  exceed  most,  and 
came  to  speak  to  him  in  a  style  which  was  scarce  fit  to  be  used 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  37 

to  any  creature.  But  he  designed  to  entail  these  praises  on 
his  memory,  cherishing  churchmen  more  than  any  king  in 
England  had  ever  done  ;  he  also  courted  the  pope  with  a  con- 
stant submission,  and  upon  all  occasions  made  the  popes'  in- 
terests his  own,  and  made  war  and  peace  as  they  desired  him. 
So  that  had  he  died  any  time  before  the  nineteenth  year  of 
his  reign,  he  could  scarce  have  escaped  being  canonized,  not- 
withstanding all  his  faults ;  for  he  abounded  in  those  virtues 
which  had  given  saintship  to  kings  for  near  a  thousand  years 
together,  and  had  done  more  than  they  all  did,  by  writing  a 
book  for  the  Roman  faith. 

England  had  for  above  three  hundred  years  been  the  tamest  The  king's 
part  of  Christendom  to  the  papal  authority,  and  had  been  ac-  fn^ieslT6 
cordingly  dealt  with.     But  though  the  parliaments,  and  two  asticalmat- 
or  three  high-spirited  kings,  had  given  some  interruption  to 
the  cruel  exactions  and  other  illegal  proceedings  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  yet  that  court  always  gained  their  designs  in  the 
end.     But  even  in  this  king's  days,  the  crown  was  not  quite 
stript  of  all  its  authority  over  spiritual  persons.     The  investi- 
tures of  bishops  and  abbots,  which  had  been  originally  given 
by  the  delivery  of  the  pastoral  ring  and  staff,  by  the  kings  of 
England,  were  after-  some  opposition  wrung  out  of  their  hands ; 
yet  I  find  they  retained  another  thing,  which  upon  the  matter 
was  the  same.     When  any  see  was  vacant,  a  writ  was  issued  Custodia 
out  of  the  chancery  for  seizing  on  all  the  temporalities  of  the  tat^ 
bishopric,  and  then  the  king  recommended  one  to  the  pope, 
upon  which  his  bulls  were  expeded  at  Rome,  and  so  by  a  war- 
rant from  the  pope  he  was  consecrated,  and  invested  in  the 
spiritualities  of  the  see ;  but  was  to  appear  before  the  king 
either  in  person  or  by  proxy,  and  renounce  every  clause  in  his 
letters  and  bulls,  that  were  or  might  be  prejudicial  to  the  pre- 
rogative of  the  crown,  or  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  and 
12  was  to  swear  fealty  and  allegiance  to  the  king.     And  after  this 
a  new  writ  was  issued  out  of  the  chancery,  bearing  that  this 
was  done,  and  that  thereupon  the  temporalities  should  be  re-  Restitutio 
stored.     Of  this  there  are  so  many  precedents  in  the  records,  ta"sp°rai* 
that  every  one  that  has  searched  them  must  needs  find  them 
in  every  year ;   but  when  this  began,  I  leave  to  the  more 
learned  in  the  law  to  discover.     And  for  proof  of  it  the  reader 
will  find  in  the  Collection  the  fullest  record  which  I  met  with 


38  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Collect.  concerning  it  in  Henry  the  Seventh's  reign,  of  cardinal  Adrian's 
being  invested  in  the  bishopric  of  Bath  and  Wells.  So  that 
upon  the  matter  the  kings  then  disposed  of  all  bishoprics, 
keeping  that  still  in  their  own  hands  which  made  them  most 
desired  in  those  ages ;  and  so  had  the  bishops  much  at  their 
devotion. 

But  king  Henry  in  a  great  degree  parted  with  this,  by  the 

[p.  8.  mi-     abovementioned  power  granted  to  cardinal  Wolsey,  who  being 

legate  as  well  as  lord  chancellor,  it  was  thought  a  great  error 

in  government  to  lodge  such  a  trust  with  him,  which   might 

have  passed  into  a  precedent  for  other  legates  pretending  to 

the  same  power ;  since  the  papal  greatness  had  thus  risen,  and 

oft  upon  weaker  grounds  to  the  height  it  was  then  at.     Yet 

License  to  the  king  had  no  mind  to   suffer  the  laws  made  against  the 

New-  suing  out  of  bulls  in  the  court  of  Rome  without  his  leave  to  be 

burgh 7       neglected  ;  for  I  find  several  licenses  granted  to  sue  bulls  in 

Novemb.  3.        °  .....  .  „,. 

1.  part.  5.   that  court,  bearing  lor  their  preamble  the  statute  of  the  six- 

pgf  Ip°t-     tcenth  of  Richard  the  Second  against  the  pope's  pretended 

mer,  xiii.     power  in  England. 

p*3  ^-J  But  the  immunity  of  ecclesiastical  persons  was  a  thing  that 

occasioned  great  complaints.  And  good  cause  there  was  for 
them.  For  it  was  ordinary  for  persons  after  the  greatest 
crimes  to  get  into  orders ;  and  then  not  only  what  was  past  must 
be  forgiven  them,  but  they  were  not  to  be  questioned  for  any 
crime  after  holy  orders  given,  till  they  were  first  degraded ; 
and  till  that  was  done  they  were  the  bishop's  prisoners. 
AV  hereupon  there  arose  a  great  dispute  in  the  beginning  of 
this  king's  reign,  of  which  none  of  our  historians  having  taken 
any  notice,  I  shall  give  a  full  account  of  it. 

A  contest        Kino-  Henry  the  Seventh  in  his  fourth  parliament8  did  a 

about  the  .  ,  . 

ecclesiasti-  little  lessen  the  privileges  of  the  clergy,  enacting  that  clerks 
..  imSUn  convicted  should  be  burnt  in  the  hand.  But  this  not  proving 
way's  Re-  a  sufficient  restraint,  it  was  enacted  in  parliament,  in  the  fourth 
181.V  year  of  this  king,  that  all  murderers  and  robbers  should  be 
[cap.  2.       denied  the  benefit  of  their  clergy.     But  though  this  seemed  a 

Statutes,  .  ,       •  1  111  x>  1       1 

vol.  iii.  p.    very  just  law,  yet  to  make  it  pass  through  the  house  ot  lords, 
94 d  they  added  two  provisos  to  it,  the  one  for  excepting  all  such 

7  [This  was  printed  Peterburg  in      year,  not  of  the  fourth  parliament, 
the  folio  editions.]  cap.  13.  Statutes,  vol.  ii.  p.  538.] 

w  [This  is  a  statute  of  the  fourth 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  39 

as  were  within  the  holy  orders  of  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon  ; 
the  other  that  the  act  should  only  be  in  force  till  the  next 
parliament.  With  these  provisos  it  was  unanimously  assented 
to  by  the  lords  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  January,  1513,  and 
being  agreed  to  by  the  commons,  the  royal  assent  made  it  a 
law :  pursuant  to  which,  many  murderers  and  felons  were  de- 
nied their  clergy,  and  the  law  passed  on  them  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  the  whole  nation.  But  this  gave  great  offence 
to  the  clergy,  who  had  no  mind  to  suffer  their  immunities  to 
be  touched  or  lessened.  And  judging  that  if  the  laity  made 
bold  with  inferior  orders,  they  would  proceed  further  even 
against  sacred  orders ;  therefore  as  their  opposition  was  such, 
that  the  act  not  being  continued,  did  determine  at  the  next 
13  parliament,  (that  was  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  king,)  so  they, 
not  satisfied  with  that,  resolved  to  fix  a  censure  on  that  act  as 
contrary  to  the  franchises  of  the  holy  church.  And  the  abbot 
of  Winchcombe9  being  more  forward  than  the  rest,  during  the 
session  of  parliament  in  the  seventh  year  of  this  king's  reign, 
in  a  sermon  at  Paul's  Cross,  said  openly,  That  that  act  was 
contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  and  to  the  liberties  of  the  holy 
church,  and  that  all  who  assented  to  it,  as  well  spiritual  as 
temporal  persons,  had  by  so  doing  incurred  the  censures  of 
the  church.  And  for  confirmation  of  his  opinion,  he  published 
a  book  to  prove,  that  all  clerks,  whether  of  the  greater  or 
lower  orders,  were  sacred,  and  exempted  from  all  temporal 
punishments  by  the  secular  judge,  even  in  criminal  cases. 
This  made  great  noise,  and  all  the  temporal  lords,  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  house  of  commons,  desired  the  king  to  sup- 
press the  growing  insolence  of  the  clergy.  So  there  was  a 
hearing  of  the  matter  before  the  king,  with  all  the  judges,  and 
the  king's  temporal  council.  Doctor  Standish,  guardian  of  the 
Mendicant  Friars  in  London,  (afterwards  bishop  of  Saint 
Asaph,)  the  chief  of  the  king's  spiritual  council,  argued,  That, 
by  the  law,  clerks  had  been  still  convened  and  judged  in  the 
king's  court  for  civil  crimes,  and  that  there  was  nothing  either 
in  the  laws  of  God,  or  the  church,  inconsistent  with  it;  and 
that  the  public  good  of  the  society,  which  was  chiefly  driven  at 
by  all  laws,  and  ought  to  be  preferred  to  all  other  things, 

9  [This  was  Richard  Kydermin-      1531.       Vide    Dugdale,     Monast. 
stre  who  was  abbot  from   1488  to     Angl.  ii.  p.  299.] 


40  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

required  that  crimes  should  be  punished.  '  But  the  abbot  of 
Winchcombe,  being  counsel  for  the  clergy,  excepted  to  this, 
and  said,  There  was  a  decree  made  by  t/ie  church  expressly  to 
the  contrary,  to  which  all  ought  to  pay  obedience  under  the 
pain  of  mortal  sin;  and  that  therefore  the  trying  of  clerks 
in  the  civil  courts  ivas  a  sin  in  itself.  Standish  upon  this 
turned  to  the  king,  and  said,  God  forbid  that  all  the  decrees 
of  the  church  should  bind.  It  seems  the  bishops  think  not 
so ;  for  though  there  is  a  decree  that  they  should  reside  at 
their  cathedrals  all  the  festivals  of  the  year,  yet  the  greater 
part  of  them  do  it  not ;  adding,  that  no  decree  could  have  any 
force  in  England  till  it  was  received  there ;  and  that  this  de- 
cree was  never  received  in  England,  but  that,  as  well  since  the 
making  of  it,  as  before,  clerks  had  been  tried  for  crimes  in  the 
civil  courts.  To  this  the  abbot  made  no  answer,  but  brought 
a  place  of  scripture  to  prove  this  exemption  to  have  come  from 
our  Saviour's  words,  Nolite  tangere  christos  meos,  Touch  not 
mine  anointed  ;  and  therefore  princes  ordering  clerks  to  be 
arrested,  and  brought  before  their  courts,  was  contrary  to 
scripture,  against  which  no  custom  can  take  place.  Standish 
replied,  these  words  were  never  said  by  our  Saviour,  but  were 
put  by  David  in  his  Psalter  one  thousand  years  before  Christ ; 
and  he  said  these  words  had  no  relation  to  the  civil  judica- 
tories, but  because  the  greatest  part  of  the  world  was  then 
wicked,  and  but  a  small  number  believed  the  law,  they  were 
a  charge  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  not  to  do  them  harm.  But 
though  the  abbot  had  been  very  violent,  and  confident  of  his 
being  able  to  confound  all  that  held  the  contrary  opinion,  yet 
he  made  no  answer  to  this.  The  laity  that  were  present,  being 
confirmed  in  their  former  opinion  by  hearing  the  matter  thus 
argued,  moved  the  bishops  to  order  the  abbot  to  renounce  his 
former  opinion,  and  recant  his  sermon  at  Paul's  Cross.  But 
they  flatly  refused  to  do  it,  and  said  they  were  bound  by  the 
laws  of  the  holy  church  to  maintain  the  abbot's  opinion  in  every  14 
point  of  it.  Great  heats  followed  upon  this  during  the  sitting 
of  the  parliament,  of  which  there  is  a  very  partial  entry  made 
in  the  journal  of  the  lords'  house  ;  and  no  wonder,  the  clerk  of 
Made  clerk,  the  parliament,  doctor  Tailer,  doctor  of  the  canon  law,  being 
t  Creg9Rot.  a^  tb-e  same  time  speaker  of  the  lower  house  of  convocation. 
Pat.parti.  The  entry  is  in  these  words:  In  this  parliament  and  convoca- 


book  l]  THE  REFORMATION.  41 

Hon  there  were  most  dangerous  contentions  between  the  clergy  Journal 
and  the  secular  power,  about  the  ecclesiastical  liberties,  one?7'^™™ 
Standish,  a  minor  friar,  being  the  instrument  and  jwomoter  VIII. 
of  all  that  mischief10.    But  a  passage  fell  out,  that  made  this  1-p'  5''J 
matter  be  more  fully  prosecuted  in  the  Michaelmas  term.    One 
Richard  Huune,  a  merchant  tailor  in  London,  was  questioned  [Fox,  ii. 

ii  8  1 

by  a  clerk  in  Middlesex  for  a  mortuary,  pretended  to  be  due 
for  a  child  of  his  that  died  five  weeks  old.  The  clerk  claiming 
the  bearing  sheet,  and  ITunne  refusing  to  give  it;  upon  that 
he  was  sued,  but  his  counsel  advised  him  to  sue  the  clerk  in  a 
praemunire,  for  bringing  the  king's  subjects  before  a  foreign 
court ;  the  spiritual  court  sitting  by  authority  from  the  legate. 
This  touched  the  clergy  so  in  the  quick,  that  they  used  all  the 
arts  they  could  to  fasten  heresy  on  him ;  and  understanding 
that  he  had  Wycliffe's  Bible,  upon  that  he  was  attached  of 
heresy,  and  put  in  the  Lollards'  tower  at  Paul's,  and  examined 
upon  some  articles  objected  to  him  by  Fitz-James,  then  bishop 
of  London.  He  denied  them  as  they  were  charged  against 
him,  but  acknowledged  he  had  said  some  words  sounding  that 
way,  for  which  he  was  sorry,  and  asked  God's  mercy,  and  sub- 
mitted himself  to  the  bishop's  correction  ;  upon  which  he  ought 
to  have  been  enjoined  penance,  and  set  at  liberty ;  but  he  per- 
sisting still  in  his  suit  in  the  king's  courts,  they  used  him  most 
cruelly.  On  the  fourth  of  December  he  was  found  hanged  in  Hunne 
the  chamber  where  he  was  kept  prisoner.  And  doctor  Horsey,  prison. 
chancellor  to  the  bishop  of  London,  with  the  other  officers  who  [ibid.  p.  9.] 
had  the  charge  of  the  prison,  gave  it  out  that  he  had  hanged 
himself.  But  the  coroner  of  London  coming  to  hold  an  inquest 
on  the  dead  body,  they  found  him  hanging  so  loose,  and  in  a 
silk  girdle,  that  they  clearly  perceived  he  was  killed ;  they  also 
found  his  neck  had  been  broken,  as  they  judged,  with  an  iron 
chain,  for  the  skin  was  all  fretted  and  cut ;  they  saw  some 
streams  of  blood  about  his  body,  besides  several  other  evi- 

10  Dissolutum  et  finitum  fuit  hoc  exorta?  sunt  inter  clericum  et  secula- 

parliamentum    22    Dec.   1515.    Jo-  rem   potestatem   super   lihertatibus 

hanneTailer,  juris  pontificii  doctore,  ecclesiasticis,  quodam  fratre  minore, 

clerico  parliamentorum  domini  re-  nomine  Standishe,  omnium  malorum 

gis  :  et  eodem  tempore  prolocntore  ministro  ac  stimulatore.   [Journals, 

convocationis  cleri,  quod  raro  acci-  p.  57.]     Hall  [pp.  573,    sqq.]  and 

dit.     In  hoc  parliamento  et  convo-  Fox  [vol.  ii.  pp.  8,  sqq.] 
catione    periculosissima?    seditiones 


42  THE   HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

dcnces,  which  made  it  clear  he  had  not  murdered  himself: 
whereupon  they  did  acquit  the  dead  body,  and  laid  the  murder 
on  the  officers  that  had  the  charge  of  that  prison  :  and  by 
other  proofs  they  found  the  bishop's  somner  and  the  bellringer 
guilty  of  it ;  and  by  the  deposition  of  the  somner  himself  it 
did  appear,  that  the  chancellor  and  he,  and  the  bellringer,  did 
murder  him,  and  then  hang  him  up. 

But  as  the  inquest  proceeded  in  this  trial,  the  bishop  began 
a  new  process  against  the  dead  body  of  Richard  Hunne,  for 
other  points  of  heresy  ;  and  several  articles  were  gathered  out 
of  Wycliffe's  preface  to  the  Bible,  with  which  he  was  charged. 
And  his  having  the  book  in  his  possession  being  taken  for 
good  evidence,  he  was  judged  an  heretic,  and  his  body  de- 
livered to  the  secular  power.  When  judgment  was  given,  the 
bishops  of  Durham  and  Lincoln,  with  many  doctors  both  of 
divinity  and  the  canon  law,  sat  with  the  bishop  of  London ;  so 
that  it  was  looked  on  as  an  act  of  the  whole  clergy,  and  done  15 
Andhisbo-  by  common  consent.     On  the  twentieth  of  December  his  body 

Dec.U2ro,ed'    WaS  bumt  at  Smithneld- 

1514-  But  this  produced  an  effect  very  different  from  what  was 

L1  !  p-I0-J  expected ;  for  it  was  hoped  that  he  being  found  an  heretic, 
nobody  should  appear  for  him  any  more :  whereas,  on  the 
contrary,  it  occasioned  a  great  outcry,  the  man  having  lived  in 
very  good  reputation  among  his  neighbours  ;  so  that  after  that 
day  the  city  of  London  was  never  well  affected  to  the  popish 
clergy,  but  inclined  to  follow  any  body  who  spoke  against 
them,  and  every  one  looked  on  it  as  a  cause  of  common  con- 
cern. All  exclaimed  against  the  cruelty  of  their  clergy,  that 
for  a  man's  suing  a  clerk  according  to  law  he  should  be  long 
and  hardly  used  in  a  severe  imprisonment,  and  at  last  cruelly 
murdered  ;  and  all  this  laid  on  himself  to  defame  him,  and  ruin 
his  family.  And  then  to  burn  that  body  which  they  had  so 
handled,  was  thought  such  a  complication  of  cruelties,  as  few 
barbarians  had  ever  been  guilty  of.  The  bishop,  finding  that 
the  inquest  went  on,  and  the  whole  matter  was  discovered, 
used  all  possible  endeavours  to  stop  their  proceedings;  and 
they  were  often  brought  before  the  king's  council,  where  it 
was  pretended  that  all  proceeded  from  malice  and  heresy. 
The  cardinal  laboured  to  procure  an  order  to  forbid  their  going 
any  further,  but  the  thing  was  both  so  foul  and  so  evident  that 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  43 

it  could  not  be  done ;  and  that  opposition  made  it  more  gene- 
rally believed.  In  the  parliament  there  was  a  bill  sent  up  to  the 
lords  by  the  commons  for  restoring  Hunne's  children,  which  was 
passed,  and  had  the  royal  assent  to  it ;  but  another  bill  being 
brought  in  about  this  murder,  it  occasioned  great  heats  among 
them.  The  bishop  of  London  said,  that  Hunne  had  hanged 
himself,  that  the  inquest  were  false  perjured  caitiffs,  and  if  they 
proceeded  further,  he  could  not  keep  his  house  for  heretics ;  so 
that  the  bill  which  was  sent  up  by  the  commons  was  but  once 
read  in  the  house  of  lords,  for  the  power  of  the  clergy  was  great 
there.  But  the  trial  went  on,  and  both  the  bishop's  chancellor  April  3. 
and  the  somner  were  indicted  as  principals  in  the  murder. 

The  convocation  that  was  then  sitting,  finding  so  great  a  stir 
made,  and  that  all  their  liberties  were  now  struck  at,  resolved 
to  call  doctor  Standish  to  an  account  for  what  he  had  said  and 
argued  in  that  matter;  so  he  being  summoned  before  them, 
some  articles  were  objected  to  him  by  word  of  mouth,  concern- 
ing the  judging  of  clerks  in  civil  courts  ;  and  the  day  following, 
they  being  put  in  writing,  the  bill  was  delivered  to  him,  and  a 
day  assigned  for  him  to  make  answer.  The  doctor,  perceiving 
their  intention,  and  judging  it  would  go  hard  with  him  if  he 
were  tried  before  them,  went  and  claimed  the  king's  protection 
from  this  trouble  that  he  was  now  brought  in,  for  discharging 
his  duty  as  the  king's  spiritual  counsel.  But  the  clergy  made 
their  excuse  to  the  king,  that  they  were  not  to  question  him 
for  any  thing  he  had  said  as  the  king's  counsel ;  but  for  some 
lectures  he  read  at  St.  Paul's  and  elsewhere,  contrary  to  the 
law  of  God,  and  liberties  of  the  holy  church,  ivhich  they  were 
bound  to  maintain ;  and  desired  the  king's  assistance  accord- 
ing to  his  coronation  oath,  and  as  he  would  not  incur  the 
censures  of  the  holy  church.  On  the  other  hand,  the  temporal 
lords  and  judges,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons,  addressed  to  the  king  to  maintain  the  temporal  jurisdic- 
16  tion  according  to  his  coronation  oath,  and  to  protect  Standish 
from  the  malice  of  his  enemies. 

This  put  the  king  in  great  perplexity,  for  he  had  no  mind  to 
lose  any  part  of  his  temporal  jurisdiction,  and  on  the  other 
hand  was  no  less  apprehensive  of  the  dangerous  effects  that 
might  follow  on  a  breach  with  the  clergy.     So  he  called  for 


44  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

doctor  Veysey,  then  dean  of  his  chapel,  and  afterwards  bishop 
of  Exeter,  and  charged  him  upon  his  allegiance  to  declare  the 
truth  to  him  in  that  matter  :  which  after  some  study  he  did, 
and  said,  upon  his  faith,  conscience,  and  allegiance,  he  did 
think  that  the  convening  of  clerks  before  the  secular  judge, 
which  had  been  always  practised  in  England,  might  well  con- 
sist with  the  law  of  God,  and  the  true  liberties  of  the  holy 
church.  This  gave  the  king  great  satisfaction ;  so  he  com- 
manded all  the  judges,  and  his  council  both  spiritual  and 
temporal,  and  some  of  both  houses,  to  meet  at  Black-Friars, 
and  to  hear  the  matter  argued.  The  bill  against  doctor 
Standish  was  read,  which  consisted  of  six  articles  that  were 
objected  to  him.  First,  That  he  had  said  that  the  lower 
orders  were  not  sacred.  Secondly,  That  the  exemption  of 
clerks  was  not  founded  on  a  divine  right.  Thirdly,  That  the 
laity  might  coerce  clerks  ivhen  the  prelates  did  not  their  duty. 
Fourthly,  That  no  positive  ecclesiastical  law  binds  any  but 
those  who  receive  it.  Fifthly,  That  the  study  of  the  canon  law 
was  needless.  Sixthly,  That  of  the  whole  volume  of  the 
Decretum,  so  much  as  a  man  could  hold  in  his  fist,  and  no 
more,  did  oblige  Christians.  To  these  doctor  Standish  an- 
swered, That  for  those  things  expressed  in  the  third,  the  fifth, 
and  the  sixth  articles,  he  had  never  taught  them ;  as  for  his 
asserting  them  at  any  time  in  discourse,  as  he  did  not  remem- 
ber it,  so  he  did  not  much  care  whether  he  had  done  it  or  not. 
To  the  first  he  said,  Lesser  orders  in  one  sense  are  sacred,  and 
in  another  they  are  not  sacred.  For  the  second  and  fourth, 
he  confessed  he  had  taught  them,  and  was  ready  to  justify 
them./  It  was  objected  by  the  clergy,  that  as,  by  the  law  of 
God,  no  man  could  judge  his  father,  it  being  contrary  to  that 
commandment,  Honour  thy  father  :  so  churchmen  being  spiri- 
tual fathers,  they  could  not  be  judged  by  the  laity,  who  were 
their  children.  To  which  he  answered,  That  as  that  only  con- 
cluded in  favour  of  priests,  those  in  inferior  orders  not  being 
fathers ;  so  it  was  a  mistake  to  say  a  judge  might  not  sit  upon 
his  natural  father,  for  the  judge  was  by  another  relation  above 
his  natural  father  :  and  though  the  commandment  is  conceived 
in  general  words,  yet  there  are  some  exceptions  to  be  admitted ; 
as  though  it  be  said,  Thou  shalt  not  kill,  yet  in  some  cases  we 


book  i.]  THE    REFORMATION.  45 

may  lawfully  kill;  so  in  the  case  of  justice,  a  judge  may  law- 
fully sit  on  his  father. 

But  doctor  Veysey's  argument  was  that  which  took  most 
with  all  that  were  present.  He  said,  it  was  certain  that  the 
laws  of  the  church  did  not  bind  any  but  those  who  received 
them.  To  prove  this,  he  said,  that  in  old  times  all  secular 
priests  were  married ;  but  in  the  days  of  St.  Augustine,  the 
apostle  of  England,  there  was  a  decree  made  to  the  contrary, 
which  was  received  in  England,  and  in  many  other  places,  by 
virtue  whereof  the  secular  priests  in  England  may  not  marry : 
but  this  law  not  being  universally  received,  the  Greek  church 
never  judged  themselves  bound  by  it,  so  that  to  this  day  the 
priests  in  that  church  have  wives  as  well  as  other  secular  men. 
If  then  the  churches  of  the  east,  not  having  received  the  law 
17  of  the  celibate  of  the  clergy,  have  never  been  condemned  by 
the  church  for  not  obeying  it ;  then  the  convening  clerks  hav- 
ing been  always  practised  in  England,  was  no  sin,  notwith- 
standing the  decree  to  the  contrary,  which  was  never  received 
here.  Nor  is  this  to  be  compared  to  those  privileges  that  con- 
cern only  a  private  man's  interest,  for  the  commonwealth  of  the 
whole  realm  was  chiefly  to  be  looked  at,  and  to  be  preferred  to 
all  other  things. 

When  the  matter  was  thus  argued  on  both  sides,  all  the 
judges  delivered  their  opinions  in  these  words:  That  all  those 
of  the  convocation  who  did  award  the  citation  against  Stan- 
dish,  were  in  the  case  of  a  praemunire  f ados ;  and  added  some- 
Avhat  about  the  constitution  of  the  parliament,  which  being 
foreign  to  my  business,  and  contrary  to  a  received  opinion,  I 
need  not  mention,  but  refer  the  reader  to  Keilway  for  his 
information,  if  he  desires  to  know  more  of  it :  and  thus  the 
court  broke  up.  But  soon  after,  all  the  lords  spiritual  and 
temporal,  with  many  of  the  house  of  commons,  and  all  the 
judges,  and  the  king's  council,  were  called  before  the  king  to 
Baynard's  Castle  ;  and  in  all  their  presence  the  cardinal  kneeled 
down  before  the  king,  and  in  the  name  of  the  clergy  said, 
That  none  of  them  intended  to  do  any  thing  that  might 
derogate  from  his  prerogative,  and  least  of  all  himself,  ivho 
owed  his  advancement  only  to  the  king's  favour.  But  this 
matter  of  convening  of  clerks  did  seem  to  them  all  to  be  con- 
trary to  the   laws  of  God,  and  the  liberties  of  the  church, 


46  THE   HISTORY   OF  [part  l 

which  they  ivere  bound  by  their  oaths  to  maintain  according 
to  their  power ;  therefore  in  their  name  he  humbly  begged, 
That  the  king,  to  avoid  the  censures  of  the  church,  woidd 
refer  the  matter  to  the  decision  of  the  pope  and  his  council,  at 
the  court  of  Rome.  To  which  the  king  answered,  It  seems  to 
us  that  doctor  Standish,  and  others  of  our  spiritual  council, 
have  answered  you  fully  in  all  points.  The  bishop  of  Win- 
chester replied,  Sir,  I  warrant  you  doctor  Standish  will  not 
abide  by  his  opinion  at  his  peril.  But  the  doctor  said,  What 
should  one  poor  friar  do  alone,  against  all  the  bishops  and 
clergy  of  England  ?  After  a  short  silence  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  said,  That  in  former  times  divers  holy  fathers  of 
the  church  had  opposed  the  execution  of  that  law,  and  some 
of  them  suffered  matyrdom  in  the  quarrel.  To  whom  Fineux, 
lord  chief  justice,  said,  That  many  holy  kings  had  maintained 
that  law,  and  many  holy  fathers  had  given  obedience  to  it, 
which  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  they  would  have  done,  had  they 
known  it  to  be  contrary  to  the  law  of  God :  and  he  desired  to 
know  by  what  law  bishops  could  judge  clerks  for  felony,  it 
being  a  thing  only  determined  by  the  temporal  law ;  so  that 
either  it  was  not  at  all  to  be  tried,  or  it  was  only  in  the  tem- 
poral court ;  so  that  either  clerks  must  do  as  they  please,  or 
be  tried  in  the  civil  courts.  To  this  no  answer  being  made, 
the  king  said  these  words:  By  the  permission  and  ordinance 
of  God  we  are  king  of  England,  and  the  kings  of  England  in 
times  past  had  never  any  superior,  but  God  only.  Therefore 
know  you  well  that  we  will  maintain  the  right  of  our  crown, 
and  of  our  temporal  jurisdiction  as  well  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  points,  in  as  ample  manner  as  any  of  our  progenitors 
have  done  before  our  time.  And  as  for  your  decrees,  we  are 
well  assured  that  you  of  the  spiritualty  go  expressly  against 
the  words  of  divers  of  them,  as  hath  been  shelved  you  by  some 
of  our  council;  and  you  interpret  your  decrees  at  your 
pleasure,  but  we  will  not  agree  to  them  more  than  our  progeni- 
tors have  done  in  former  times.  But  the  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury made  most  humble  instance,  that  the  matter  might  bo  18 
so  long  respited,  till  they  could  get  a  resolution  from  the  court 
of  Rome,  which  they  .should  procure  at  their  own  charges; 
and  if  it  did  consist  with  the  law  of  God,  they  should  conform 
themselves  to  the  law  of  the  land.     To  this  the  kiiij^  made  no 


BOOK  I.] 


THE   REFORMATION. 


47 


answer :  but  the  warrants  being  out  against  doctor  Horsey, 
the  bishop  of  London's  chancellor,  he  did  abscond  in  the  arch- 
bishop's house ;  though  it  was  pretended  he  was  a  prisoner 
there,  till  afterwards  a  temper  was  found  that  Horsey  should 
render  himself  a  prisoner  in  the  king's  bench,  and  be  tried. 
But  the  bishop  of  London  made  earnest  applications  to  the 
cardinal  that  he  would  move  the  king  to  command  the  attorney 
general  to  confess  the  indictment  was  not  true,  that  it  might 
not  be  referred  to  a  jury  ;  since  he  said  the  citizens  of  London 
did  so  favour  heresy,  that  if  he  were  as  innocent  as  Abel,  they 
would  find  any  clerk  guilty.  The  king,  not  willing  to  irritate 
the  clergy  too  much,  and  judging  he  had  maintained  his  pre- 
rogative by  bringing  Horsey  to  the  bar,  ordered  the  attorney 
to  do  so11.  And  accordingly,  when  Horsey  was  brought  to 
the  bar,  and  indicted  of  murder,  he  pleaded  Not  guilty  ;  which 


1 '  Keilway's  Reports  werepublished 
1602,  by  Jo.  Crook,  who  was  after- 
wards a  judge.  He  gives  a  charac- 
ter of  Keilway,  as  a  lawyer  of  good 
reputation ;  and  that  he  was  sur- 
veyor of  the  courts  of  wards  in 
queen  Elizabeth's  reign.  It  appears 
that  the  king's  ordering  the  attorney 
general  to  confess  Dr.  Horsey's 
plea,  without  bringing  the  matter  to 
a  trial,  was  plainly  a  contrivance  to 
please  the  clergy,  and  to  stifle  that 
matter  without  bringing  it  to  a  trial, 
and  so  must  have  satisfied  them 
better  than  if  he  had  pardoned  him. 
Little  regard  is  to  be  given  to 
Rastall,  who  shewed  his  partiality 
in  matters  in  which  the  pope's  au- 
thority was  concerned ;  for  in  his 
edition  of  the  Statutes  at  Large,  he 
omitted  one  act  of  parliament  made 
in  the  second  year  of  Richard  the 
Second,  cap.  6.  which  is  thus  abridg- 
ed by  Poulton.  Urban  was  duly 
chosen  pope,  and  so  ought  to  be 
accepted  and  obeyed  :  upon  which 
the  lord  Coke  in  his  Institutes, 
p.  274.  infers,  that  anciently  acts  of 
parliament  were  made  concerning 
the  highest  spiritual  matters ;  but  it 
seems  Rastall  had  no  mind  to  let 
that  be  known.  He  was  a  judge  in 
queen  Mary's  time,  butwent  beyond 


sea,  and  lived  in  Flanders  in  queen 
Elizabeth's  reign,  and  there  he 
wrote  and  printed  his  Book  of 
Entries. 

There  is  a  very  singular  instance 
in  the  Year  Book,  43  Edward  III. 
33.  6.  by  which  it  appears  that  the 
bishop  of  Lichfield  was  sometimes 
called  the  bishop  of  Chester ;  for  a 
quare  impedit  was  brought  by  the 
king  against  him,  called  bishop  of 
Chester  :  the  judgment  given  at  the 
end  of  it  is,  that  he  should  go  to 
the  great  devil.  This  is  a  singular 
instance  of  an  extraordinary  judg- 
ment ;  there  being  no  precedent  like 
it  in  all  our  records. 

In  Brook's  Abridgment,  Tit. 
Prcemunire,  sect.  21.  it  is  said,  that 
Barlow  had,  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
the  Vlth,  deprived  the  dean  of 
Wells,  (which  was  a  donative,)  and 
had  thereby  incurred  a  praemunire  ; 
and  that  he  was  forced  to  use  means 
to  obtain  his  pardon  :  so  if  he  had 
not  his  bishopric  confirmed,  by  a 
new  grant  of  it,  he  must  have  lost 
it,  in  a  judgment  against  him  in  a 
prcemunire.  And  if  he  wrote  any 
such  book,  it  was  in  order  to  the 
obtaining  his  pardon.  Brook  was 
chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas  in 
the  first  of  queen  Mary :   but  yet  it 


48  THE    HISTORY    OF  .[part 

the  attorney  acknowledging,  he  was  dismissed,  and  went  and 
lived  at  Exeter,  and  never  again  came  back  to  London,  either 
out  of  fear  or  shame.  And  for  doctor  Standish,  upon  the  king's 
command,  he  was  also  dismissed  out  of  the  court  of  convocation. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  pope  thought  fit  to  interpose  in 
this  matter.  For  though,  upon  less  provocations,  popes  had 
proceeded  to  the  highest  censures  against  princes ;  yet  this 
king  was  otherwise  so  necessary  to  the  pope  at  this  time,  that 
he  was  not  to  be  offended.  The  clergy  suffered  much  in  this 
business,  besides  the  loss  of  their  reputation  with  the  people, 
who  involved  them  all  in  the  guilt  of  Hunne's  murder ;  for  now 
their  exemption  being  well  examined,  was  found  to  have  no 
foundation  at  all  but  in  their  own  decrees ;  and  few  were  much 
convinced  by  that  authority,  since  upon  the  matter  it  was  but 
a  judgment  of  their  own,  in  their  own  favours  :  nor  was  the 
city  of  London  at  all  satisfied  with  the  proceedings  in  the 
king's  bench,  since  there  was  no  justice  done;  and  all  thought 
the  king  seemed  more  careful  to  maintain  his  prerogative  than 
to  do  justice. 

This  I  have  related  the  more  fully,  because  it  seems  to  have 
had  great  influence  on  people's  minds,  and  to  have  disposed 
them  much  to  the  changes  that  followed  afterwards.  How 
these  things  were  entered  in  the  books  of  convocation,  can- 
not be  now  known.  For  among  the  other  sad  losses  sustained 
in  the  late  burning  of  London,  this  was  one,  that  almost  all  the 

is  no  ways  probable  that  Barlow  pears,  that  Barlow  did  feebly  pro- 
wrote  any  such  book  as  is  mention-  mise  to  be  reconciled  to  the  church 
ed  p.  270.  of  the  second  volume  of  of  Rome ;  but  it  seems  that  was 
the  History  of  the  Reformation  :  only  an  effect  of  weakness,  since  he 
for  he  went  out  of  England,  and  quickly  got  beyond  sea;  into  which 
came  back  in  the  first  of  queen  the  privy-council  made  an  inquiry : 
Elizabeth.  He  assisted  in  the  con-  that  shews,  that  he  repented  of  that 
secration  of  archbishop  Parker,  and  which  was  extorted  from  him. 
was  made  bishop  of  Chichester  ;  "  There  are  in  this  paper  some 
which  probably  would  not  have  been  "  quotations  out  of  Harrner's  Spe- 
done,  if  he  had  written  any  such  "  cimen,  on  which  general  remarks 
book,  unless  he  had  made  a  public  "  are  made,  but  particulars  are  not 
recantation  of  it ;  which  I  do  not  "  added.  The  writer  of  this  has 
find  that  he  did.  So  there  is  reason  *  not  thought  fit  to  name  himself  to 
to  believe  that  was  a  book  put  out  "  me;  so  I  can  give  no  other  de- 
in  his  name  by  some  papist,  on  de-  "  scription  of  him,  but  that  he 
sign  to  cast  a  reproach  on  the  refor-  "  seems  to  be  a  person  who  has 
mation.  This  is  further  confirmed  "  studied  the  law,  and  perused  our 
by  what  I  have  put  in  the  History :  "  historians  carefully." 
for  by  a  letter  of  Sampson's  it  ap- 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  49 

registers  of  the  spiritual  courts  were  burnt,  some  few  of  the 
archbishops'  of  Canterbury  and  bishops'  of  London's  registers 
being  only  preserved.  But  having  compared  Fox's  account  of 
this  and  some  other  matters,  and  finding  it  exactly  according 
to  the  registers  that  are  preserved,  I  shall  the  more  confidently 
build  on  what  he  published  from  those  records  that  are  now  lost. 

This  was  the  only  thing  in  the  first  eighteen  years  of  the  The  king 
king's  reign  that  seemed  to  lessen  the  greatness  of  the  clergy,  p0peshigh- 
but  in  all  other  matters  he  was  a  most  faithful  son  of  the  see  of  lyand  was 

t-»  -r>  t    l-  i  •  •  i  much 

Rome,     rope  Julius,  soon  alter  his  coming  to  the  crown,  sent  courted  by 
him  a  golden  rose,  with   a  letter  to  archbishop  Warham   to  S^?1' 
19  deliver  it;  and   though   such   presents  might  seem  fitter  for  Numb  2. 
young  children  than  for  men  of  discretion,  yet  the  king  was 
much  delighted  with  it ;    and,  to  shew  his  gratitude,  there  was  Treaty 

•  ■  T?  11 

a  treaty  concluded  the  year  following  between  the  king  and        * 
Ferdinand  of  Arragon,  for  the  defence  of  the  papacy  against  [Rymer, 
the  French  king.  /  And  when,  in  opposition  to  the  council  that  xlll,P-3°  -J 
the  French  king  and  some  other  princes  and  cardinals   had 
called,  first  to  Pisa,  (which  was  afterwards  translated  to  Milan, 
and  then  to  Lyons,  that  summoned  the  pope  to  appear  before 
them,  and  suspended  his  authority,)  pope  Julius  called  another  *9  April, 
council  to  be  held  in  the  Lateran ;    the  king  sent  the  bishops 
of  Worcester  and  Rochester13,  the  prior  of  St.  John's,  and  the 
abbot  of  Winchcombe,  to  sit  in  that  council,  in  which  there 
was  such  a  representative  of  the  catholic  church  as  had  not 
been  for  several  of  the  latter  ages  in  the  western  church :  in 
which  a  few   bishops,   packed  out  of  several  kingdoms,  and 
many  Italian  bishops,  with  a  vast  number  of  abbots,  priors, 
and  other  inferior  dignified  clergymen,  were  brought  to  confirm 
together  whatever  the  popes  had  a  mind  to  enact ;  which  pass- 
ing easily  among  them,  was  sent  over  the  world  with  a  stamp 
of  sacred  authority,  as  the  decrees  and  decisions  of  the  holy 
universal  church  assembled  in  a  general  council. 

Nor  was  there  a  worse  understanding  between  this  king  and 
pope  Leo  the  Tenth,  that  succeeded  Julius,  who  did  also  com- 
pliment him  with  those  papal  presents  of  roses,  and  at  his 

12  The  bishop  of  Rochester  was  account   of  this   matter   and  by  a 

intended  to  be  sent  this  year  and  .MS.  Latin  life  I  have  of  this  bishop 

again  an.  1,513,  14  ;  but  his  journey  and  otherwise.  [B.] 
was  stopped,  as  appeai'3  by  his  own 

BURNET.  TART  I.  E 


50  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

Octob. ii,  desire  made  Wolsey  a  cardinal;  and  above  all  other  things 
lid  Her-  obliged  him  by  conferring  on  him  the  title  of  Defender  of  the 
bert.  [p.  Faith13,  (upon  the  presenting  to  the  pope  his  book  against 
3  ■■'  Luther,)  in  a  pompous  letter I4  signed  by  the  pope,  and  twenty- 

seven  cardinals,  in  which  the  king  took  great  pleasure  ;  affect- 
ing it  always  beyond  all  his  other  titles,  though  several  of  the 
former  kings  of  England  had  carried  the  same  title,  as  Spel- 
man  informs  us.  So  easy  a  thing  it  was  for  popes  to  oblige 
princes  in  those  days,  when  a  title  or  a  rose  was  thought  a 
sufficient  recompense  for  the  greatest  services. 

The  cardinal  governing  all  temporal  affairs  as  he  did,  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  but  his  authority  was  absolute  in  ecclesias- 
tical matters,  which  seemed  naturally  to  lie  within  his  pro- 
vince ;  yet  Warham  made  some  opposition  to  him,  and  com- 
plained to  the  king  of  his  encroaching  too  much  in  his  lega- 
tine  courts  upon  his  jurisdiction  ;  and  the  things  being  clearly 
made  out,  the  king  chid  the  cardinal  sharply  for  it,  who  ever 
after  that  hated  Warham15  in  his  heart,  yet  he  proceeded  more 
warily  for  the  future. 

But  the  cardinal  drew  the  hatred  of  the  clergy  upon  him- 
A  bull  for  self,  chiefly  by  a  bull  which  he  obtained  from  Rome,  giving 
thecleroy,  him  authority  to  visit  all  monasteries,  and  all  the  clergy  of 
10  June      England,  and  to  dispense  with  all  the  laws  of  the  church  for 

iSto      Tin 

Herbert,  one  whole  year  after  the  date  of  the  bull.  The  power  that 
Qx  38.]  and         lodged  in  him  bv  this  bull  was  not  more  invidious  than  the 

article  29  p  <■' 

of  his  im-  words  in  which  it  was  conceived  were  offensive ;  for  the  pre- 
fcotton611  amble  of  it  was  full  of  severe  reflections  against  the  manners 
MSS.  Ju-    and  ignorance  of  the  clergy,  who  are  said  in  it  to  have  been 

bus  I.  fol.        .     „      &       ,  ,  •      ,  m,   • 

24.]  delivered  over  to  a  reprobate  mind,     llus,  as  it  was  a  public 

defaming  them,  so,  how  true  soever  it  might  be,  all  thought  it 
did  not  become  the  cardinal,  whose  vices  were  notorious  and 
scandalous,  to  tax  others,  whose  faults  were  neither  so  great 
nor  so  eminent  as  his  were. 

He  did  also  affect  a  magnificence  and  greatness,  not  only  in  20 
his  habit,  (being  the  first   clergyman   in  England  that  wore 

13  [See  part  iii,  p.  18.]  as  is  supposed,  granted  that  title  to 

14  Besides  the  letter  of  pope  Leo's  his  successors,  whereas  the  first 
declaring  king  Henry  Defender  of  grant  seems  to  have  been  only  per- 
the  Faith,  there  was  a  more  pomp-  *   sonal.  [F.] 

ous  one  sent  over  by  pope  Clement         15  [See  part  iii,  p.  22.] 
the  seventh,  March  5,  152I,  which, 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  51 

silks,)  but  in  his  family,  liis  train,  and   other   pieces  of  state  The  cardi- 
equal  to  that  of  kings.     And  even  in  performing  divine  offices,  p^l^L  e" 
and  saying  mass,  he  did  it  with  the  same  ceremonies  that  the  Vergil, 
popes  use ;    who  judge  themselves  so  nearly  related  to  God,  ed  Basil. 
that  those  humble  acts  of  adoration,  which  are  devotions  in  '555-] 
other  persons,  would  abase  them  too  much.     He  had  not  only 
bishops  and  abbots  to  serve  him,  but  even  dukes  and  earls  to 
give  him  the  water  and  the  towel.     He  had  certainly  a  vast 
mind  ;  and  he  saw  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy  gave  so  great 
scandal,  and  their  ignorance  was  so  profound,  that  unless  some 
eifectual  ways  were    taken   for  correcting    these,   they  must 
needs  fall  into  great  disesteem  with  the  people  :  for  though  he 
took  great  liberties  himself,  and   perhaps,   according  to  the 
maxim  of  the  canonists,  he  judged  cardinals,  as  princes  of  the 
church,  were  not  comprehended  within  ordinary  ecclesiastical 
laws;  yet  he  seemed  to  have  designed  the  reformation  of  the 
inferior  clergy  by  all  the  means  he  could  think  of,  except  the  He  designs 
giving  them  a  good  example  :  therefore  he  intended  to  visit  all  tion  ?1U 
the  monasteries  of  England,  that  so,  discovering  their  corrup- 
tions, he  might  the  better  justify  the  design  he  had  to  suppress 
most  of  them,  and  convert  them  into  bishoprics,  cathedrals, 
collegiate  churches  and  colleges :  for  which  end  he  procured 
the  bull  from  Rome ;  but  he  was  diverted  from  making  any 
use  of  it  by  some,  who  advised  him  rather  to  suppress  monaste- 
ries by  the  pope's  authority,  than  proceed  in  a  method  which  And  a  sup 
would  raise  great  hatred  against  himself,  cast  foul  aspersions  monaste- 
on  religious  orders,  and  give  the  enemies  of  the  church  great  ncs- 
advantages  against  it.     Yet  he  had  communicated  his  design 
to  the  king ;  and  his  secretary  Cromwell  understanding  it,  was 
thereby  instructed  how  to  proceed  afterwards,  when  they  went 
about  the  total  suppression  of  the  monasteries. 

The  summoning  of  convocations  he  assumed  by  virtue  of  his 

legatine  power16.     Of  these  there  were  two  sorts:    the  first  Tlie  calling 
•  p         -ii  c  v  ofconvoca- 

were  called  by  the  king ;  tor  with  the  writs  tor  a  parliament  tions. 

there  went  out  always  a  summons  to  the  two  archbishops  for 

calling  a  convocation  of  their  provinces  ;  the  style  of  which  will 

be  found  in  the  Collection.     It  differs  in  nothing  from  what  is 

noAv  in  use,  but  that  the  king  did  not  prefix  the  day ;  requir-  Collect. 

ing  them  only  to  be  summoned  to  meet  with  all  convenient  '  ■'' 

,H  [See  part  iii,  p.  23.] 

E   2 


52 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Collect. 
Numb.  4. 


Regist. 
Tunst.  fol. 
33.  34- 


speed ;  and  the  archbishops,  having  the  king's  pleasure  signi- 
fied to  them,  did  in  their  writs  prefix  the  day.  Other  convo- 
cations were  called  by  the  archbishops  in  their  several  pro- 
vinces, upon  great  emergencies,  to  meet  and  treat  of  things 
relating  to  the  church,  and  were  provincial  councils.  Of  this 
I  find  but  one,  and  that  called  by  Warham,  in  the  first  year  of 
this  king,  for  restoring  the  ecclesiastical  immunities,  that  had 
been  very  much  impaired,  as  will  appear  by  the  writ  of  sum- 
mons. But  the  cardinal  did  now,  as  legate,  issue  out  writs  for 
convocations.  In  the  year  1522,  I  find  by  the  register  there 
was  a  writ  issued  from  the  king  to  Warham  to  call  one,  who 
upon  that  summoned  it  to  meet  at  St.  Paul's  the  twentieth  of 
April.  But  the  cardinal  prevailed  so  far  with  the  king,  that, 
on  the  second  of  May  after,  he  by  his  legatine  authority  dis- 
solved that  convocation,  and  issued  out  a  writ  to  Tunstall, 
bishop  of  London,  to  bring  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  to  St. 
Peter's  in  Westminster,  there  to  meet  and  reform  abuses  in  the 
church,  and  consider  of  other  important  matters  that  should  21 
be  proposed  to  them17.  What  they  did  towards  reformation,  I 
know  not,  the  records  being  lost :  but  as  to  the  king's  supply, 
it  was  proposed,  That  they  should  give  the  king  the  half  of 
the  full  value  of  their  livings  for  one  year,  to  be  paid  in  five 
vears.  The  cardinal  laid  out  to  them  how  much  the  king  had 
merited  from  the  church,  both  by  suppressing  the  schism  that 
was  like  to  have  been  in  the  papacy  in  pope  Julius'  time,  and 
by  protecting  the  see  of  Rome  from  the  French  tyranny ;  but 
most  of  all,  for  that  excellent  book  written  by  him  in  defence 
of  the  faith  against  the  heretics :  and  that  therefore,  since  the 
French  king  was  making  war  upon  him,  and  had  sent  over  the 
duke  of  Albany  to  Scotland  to  make  war  also  on  that  side,  it 
was  fit  that  on  so  great  an  occasion  it  should  appear  that  his 
clergy  were  sensible  of  their  happiness  in  having  such  a  king ; 
which  they  ought  to  express  in  granting  somewhat,  that  was 
as  much  beyond  all  former  precedents,  as  the  king  had  merited 
more  from  them  than  all  former  kings  had  ever  done. 

But  the  bishops  of  Winchester  and  Rochester  opposed  this  : 
for  they  both  hated  the  cardinal.     The  one  thought  him  un- 
grateful to  him  who  had  raised  him  :  the  other,  being  a  man 
of  a  strict  life,  hated  him  for  his  vices.     Both  these  spake 
17  [See  part  iii,  p.  24.] 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  53 

against  it  as  an  unheard-of  tax,  which  would  so  oppress  the 
clergy,  that  it  would  not  be  possible  for  them  to  live  and  *pay 
it ;  and  that  this  would  become  a  precedent  for  after-times, 
which  would  make  the  condition  of  the  clergy  most  miserable. 
But  the  cardinal,  who  intended  that  the  convocation,  by  a 
great  subsidy,  should  lead  the  way  to  the  parliament  took  much 
pains  for  carrying  it  through  ;  and  got  some  to  be  absent,  and 
others  were  prevailed  on  to  consent  to  it :  and,  for  the  fear  of 
its  being  made  a  precedent,  a  clause  was  put  in  the  act,  that  it 
should  be  no  precedent  for  after-times.  Others  laughed  at 
this,  and  said,  It  would  be  a  precedent  for  all  that,  if  it  once 
passed.  But  in  the  end  it  was  granted,  with  a  most  glorious  Collect, 
preamble ;  and  by  it  all  the  natives  of  England  that  had  any 
ecclesiastical  benefice  were  to  pay  the  full  half  of  the  true 
value  of  their  livings  in  five  years  ;  and  all  foreigners  who 
were  beneficed  in  England  were  to  pay  a  whole  year's  rent  in 
the  same  time  :  out  of  which  number  were  excepted  the  bishops 
of  Worcester  and  Llandaff,  Polydore  Vergil,  Peter  the  Carmel- 
ite, Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  Silvester  Darius,  and  Peter  Vannes, 
who  were  to  pay  only  as  natives  did.  This  increased  the 
hatred  that  the  clergy  bore  the  cardinal.  But  he  despised 
them,  and  in  particular  was  a  great  enemy  to  the  monks,  and 
looked  on  them  as  idle  mouths  that  did  neither  the  church  nor 
state  any  service,  but  were  through  their  scandalous  lives  a 
reproach  to  the  church,  and  a  burden  to  the  state.  Therefore 
he  resolved  to  suppress  a  great  number  of  them,  and  to  change 
them  to  another  institution. 

From  the  days  of  king  Edgar  the  state  of  monkery  had  been  Of  the  state 
still  growing  in  England.    For  most  of  the  secular  clergy  being  Masteries." 
then  married,  and  refusing  to  put  away  their  wives,  were  by 
Dunstan  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Ethelwald  bishop  of 
Winchester,  and   Oswald  bishop  of  Worcester,  who  were  all 
monks,  turned  out  of  their  livings.     There  is  in  the  rolls  an  Eot.  Pat. 
Inspeodmus  of  king  Edgar's,  erecting  the  priory  and  convent  yjn  e"ar 
oo  of  Worcester,  which  bears  date  anno  964.   Edgari  6t0  on   St.  r. 

Innocent's  day,  signed  by  the  king,  the  queen,  two  archbishops,  [Dugdale.i. 
five  bishops,  six  abbots,  (but  neither  bishopric  nor  abbey  are  p'  r9  J 
named,)  six  dukes,  and  five  knights ;  but  there  is  no  seal  to  it 16. 

15  No  wonder  there  was  no  seal     quest.  [F.]     [See  Harmer's  Speci- 
to  that  grant  of  king  Edgar's,  for      men  of  Errors,  p.  io.] 
seals  were  little  used  before  the  con- 


54  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

It  bears,  that  the  king,  with  the  counsel  and  consent  of 
his  princes  and  gentry,  did  confirm  and  establish  that  priory  ; 
and  that  he  had  erected  forty-seven  monasteries,  which  he  in- 
tended to  increase  to  fifty,  the  number  of  jubilee  ;  and  that 
the  former  incumbents  should  be  for  ever  excluded  from  all 
pretensions  to  their  benefices,  because  they  had  rather  chosen 
with  the  danger  of  their  order,  and  the  prejudice  of  the  eccle- 
siastical benefice,  to  adhere  to  their  wives,  than  to  serve  God 
chastely  and  canonically. 

The  monks  being  thus  settled  in  most  cathedrals  of  Eng- 
land16, gave  themselves  up  to  idleness  and  pleasure,  which  had 
been  long  complained  of;  but  now  that  learning  began  to  be 
restored,  they,  being  every  where  possessed  of  the  best  church- 
benefices,  were  looked  upon  by  all  learned  men  with  an  evil 
eye,  as  having  in  their  hands  the  chief  encouragements  of 
learning,  and  yet  doing  nothing  towards  it ;  they  on  the  con- 
trary decrying  and  disparaging  it  all  they  could,  saying,  It 
would  bring  in  heresy,  and  a  great  deal  of  mischief.  And  the 
restorers  of  learning,  such  as  Erasmus,  Vives,  and  others,  did 
not  spare  them,  but  did  expose  their  ignorance  and  ill  manners 
to  the  world. 

Now  the  king  naturally  loved  learning,  and  therefore  the 
cardinal,  either  to  do  a  thing  which  he  knew  would  be  accept- 
able to  the  king,  or  that  it  was  also  agreeable  to  his  own  in- 
Thecardi-  clinations,  resolved  to  set  up  some  colleges,  in  which  there 
leo-e^00 "  should  be  both  great  encouragements  for  eminent  scholars  to 
prosecute  their  studies,  and  good  schools  for  teaching  and 
training  up  of  youth.  This  he  knew  would  be  a  great  honour 
to  him,  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  patron  of  learning ;  and  there- 
fore he  set  his  heart  much  on  it,  to  have  two  colleges  (the  one 
at  Oxford,  the  other  at  Ipswich,  the  place  of  his  birth)  well 
constituted  and  nobly  endowed.  But  towards  this,  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  suppress  some  monasteries,  which  was  thought  every 
whit  as  justifiable  and  lawful,  as  it  had  been  many  ages  before 
to  change  secular  prebends  into  canons  regular  ;  the  endowed 
goods  being  still  applied  to  a  religious  use.  And  it  was  thought 
hard  to  say,  That  if  the  pope  had  the  absolute  power  of  dis- 
pensing the  spiritual  treasure  of  the  church,  and  to  translate 

16  The  monks  were  not  then  set-  rich  abbeys  that  were  scarce  subject 
tied  in  half  the  cathedrals  in  Eng-  to  the  bishops.  [F.]  [See  Harmer's 
land  j  their  chief  scats  were  in  the     Specimen,  p.  u.] 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  55 

the  merits  of  one  man,  and  apply  them  to  another  ;    that  he 
had  not  a  much  more  absolute  power  over  the  temporal  trea- 
sure of  the  church,  to  translate  church-lands  from  one  use,  and 
apply  them  to  another.     And  indeed  the  cardinal  was  then  so 
much  considered  at  Rome  as  a  pope  of  another   world,  that 
whatever  he  desired  he   easily  obtained.     Therefore   on  the 
third  of  April,  1524 '7,  pope  Clement  by  a  bull  gave  him  au- 
thority to  suppress  the  monastery  of  St.  Frideswide  in  Oxford, 
and  in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  and  to  carry  the  monks  else-  The  bull 
where,  with  a  very  full  non  obstante.    To  this  the  king  gave  his  ^entf* 
assent  the  nineteenth  of  April  following.     After  this  there  fol-  <6-  reg-  2- 
lowed  many  other  bulls  for  other  religious  houses  and  rectories  par'i.  [jjy. 
that  were  impropriated.     These  houses  being  thus  suppressed  mer'  *1V- 
by  the  lawIS,  they  belonged  to  the  king  ;  who  thereupon  made 
them  over  to  the  cardinal  by  new  and  special  grants,  which  are 
all  enrolled.     And  so  he  went  on  with  these  great  foundations, 
and  brought  them  to  perfection ;  that  at  Oxford  in  the  eigh-  [ibid.  p. 
teenth  year,  and  that  at  Ipswich  in  the  twentieth  year  of  the  m^jj 
king's  reign,  as  appears  by  the  dates  of  the  king's  patents  for  24<-l 
founding  them. 
23      In  the  last  place,  I  come  to  shew  the  new  opinions  in  religion, 
or  those  that  were  accounted  new  then  in  England ;  and  the 
state  and  progress  of  them  till  the  nineteenth  year  of  the  king's 
reign. 

From  the  days  of  Wycliffe,  there  were  many  that  disliked  The  first 
most  of  the  received  doctrines,  iu  several  parts  of  the  nation.  0f  refonna- 


The  clcro-y  were  at  that  time  very  hateful  to  the  people ;  for  tlon  in 

...  J  .  England. 

as  the  pope  did  exact  heavily  on  them,  so  they,  being  op- 
pressed, took  all  means  possible  to  make  the  people  repay 
what  the  popes  wrested  from  them.  Wycliffe  being  much  en- 
couraged and  supported  by  the  duke  of  Lancaster  and  the 
lord  Percy,  the  bishops  could  not  proceed  against  him  till  the 
duke  of  Lancaster  was  put  from  the  king,  and  then  he  was 
condemned  at  Oxford.     Many  opinions  are  charged  upon  him  ; 

17  April  1524  was  not  the  14th  rection,  15  for  14.     The  date  in  the 

year  of  the  king's  reign  as  it  is  put  text  ought  to  have  been   May  10, 

on  the  margin,  but  the  15th.  [F.]  which  was  in  the  16th  year  of  the 

[This  note  refers  to  the  first  edi-  king's  reign.] 

tion   which   had   the  date  14.  reg.  18  This  seems  not  to  agree  with 

in  the  margin.  Subsequent  editions  what  is  said  p.  261  of  this  volume, 

printed,  according  to  Fulman's  cor-  [B.] 


56  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

but  whether  he  held  them   or   not  we  know  not  but  by  the 
testimonies  of  his  enemies,  who  write  of  him  with  so  much  pas- 
sion, that  it  discredits  all  they  say  ;    yet  he  died  in  peace, 
though  his   body   was  afterwards  burnt.      He  translated   the 
Bible  out  of  Latin  into  English,  with  a  long  preface  before  it, 
in  which  he  reflected  severely  on  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy, 
and  condemned   the   worshipping  of  saints   and  images,  and 
denied  the  corporal  presence  of  Christ's  body  in  the  sacrament, 
and  exhorted  all  people  to  the  study  of  the  scriptures.     His 
Bible,  with  this  preface,  was  well  received  by  a  great  many, 
who  were  led  into  these  opinions  rather  by  the  impressions 
which  common  sense  and  plain  reason  made  on  them,  than  by 
any  deep  speculation  or  study-     For  the  followers  of  this  doc- 
trine were  illiterate  and  ignorant  men  :  some  few  clerks  joined 
to  them,  but  they  formed  not  themselves  into  any  body  or 
association  ;    and   were  scattered  over  the  kingdom,  holding 
these  opinions  in  private,  without  making  any  public  profession 
of  them  :  generally  they  were  known  by  their  disparaging  the 
superstitious  clergy,  whose  corruptions  were  then  so  notorious, 
and  their  cruelty  so  enraged,  that  no  wonder  the  people  were 
deeply  prejudiced  against  them.     Nor  were  the  methods  they 
used  likely  to  prevail  much  upon  them,  being  severe  and  cruel. 
The  cruel-        In  the  primitive  church,  though  in  their  councils  they  were 
church  of    no*  backward  to  pass  anathematisms  on  every  thing  that  they 
Rome.        judged  heresy,  yet  all  capital  proceedings  against  heretics  were 
^™"' E    condemned ;    and  when  two  bishops  did  prosecute  Priscillian 
cles.  tom.    and  his  followers  before  the  emperor  Maximus,  upon  which 
sqod  ^ey  were  Put'  to  death,  they  were  generally  so  blamed  for  it, 

that  many  refused  to  hold  communion  with  them.  The  Roman 
emperors  made  many  laws  against  heretics,  for  the  fining  and 
banishing  of  them,  and  secluded  them  from  the  privileges  of 
other  subjects ;  such  as  making  wills,  or  receiving  legacies  ; 
only  the  Manichees  (who  were  a  strange  mixture  between 
heathenism  and  Christianity)  were  to  suffer  death  for  their 
errors.  Yet  the  bishops  in  those  days,  particularly  in  Africa, 
doubted  much,  whether,  upon  the  insolencies  of  heretics  or 
schismatics,  they  might  desire  the  emperor  to  execute  those 
laws  for  lining,  banishing,  and  other  restraints.  And  St.  Austin 
was  not  easily  prevailed  on  to  consent  to  it.  But  at  length 
the  Donatists  were  so  intolerable,  that,  after  several  consulta- 


bookl]  THE  REFORMATION.  57 

tions  about  it,  they  were  forced  to  consent  to  those  inferior 
penalties.,  but  still  condemned  the  taking  away  of  their  lives. 
And  even  in  the  execution  of  the  imperial  laws  in  those  inferior 
24,  punishments,  they  were  always  interposing,  to  moderate  the 
severity  of  the  prefects  and  governors.  The  first  instance  of 
severity  on  men's  bodies,  that  was  not  censured  by  the  church, 
was  in  the  fifth  century,  under  Justin  the  First,  who  ordered 
the  tongue  of  Sever  us  (who  had  been  patriarch  of  Antioch,  but 
did  daily  anathematize  the  council  of  Chalcedon)  to  be  cut  out. 
In  the  eighth  century,  Justinian  the  Second  (called  Rhinotme- 
tus  from  his  cropt  nose)  burnt  all  the  Manichees  in  Armenia  : 
and  in  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  Bogomiii  were 
condemned  to  be  burnt  by  the  patriarch  and  council  of  Con- 
stantinople. But  in  the  end  of  the  twelfth,  and  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thirteenth  century,  a  company  of  simple  and  inno- 
cent persons  in  the  southern  parts  of  France,  being  disgusted 
with  the  corruptions  both  of  the  popish  clergy  and  of  the  pub- 
lic worship,  separated  from  their  assemblies;  and  then  Dominic 
and  his  brethren-preachers,  who  came  among  them  to  convince 
them,  finding  their  preaching  did  not  prevail,  betook  them- 
selves to  that  way  that  was  sure  to  silence  them.  They  per- 
suaded the  civil  magistrates  to  burn  all  such  as  were  judged 
obstinate  heretics.  That  they  might  do  this  by  a  law,  the 
fourth  council  of  Lateran  did  decree,  that  all  heretics  should  [1215.] 
be  delivered  to  the  secular  power  to  be  extirpated ;  (they 
thought  not  fit  to  speak  out,  but  by  the  practice  it  was  known 
that  burning  was  that  which  they  meant ;)  and  if  they  did  it 
not,  they  were  to  be  excommunicated  ;  and  after  that,  if  they 
still  refused  to  do  their  duty,  (which  was  upon  the  matter  to 
he  the  inquisitor's  hangmen,)  they  were  to  deny  it  at  their 
utmost  perils.  For  not  only  the  ecclesiastical  censures,  but 
anathemas  were  thought  too  feeble  a  punishment  for  this  omis- 
sion. Therefore  a  censure  was  found  out,  as  severe  upon  the 
prince,  as  burning  was  to  the  poor  heretic :  he  was  to  be  de- 
posed by  the  pope,  his  subjects  to  be  absolved  from  their  oaths 
of  allegiance,  and  his  dominions  to  be  given  away  to  any 
other  faithful  son  of  the  church,  such  as  pleased  the  pope 
best ;  and  all  this  by  the  authority  of  a  synod,  that  passed  for 
a  holy  general  council.  This,  as  it  was  fatal  to  the  counts  of 
Toulouse,  who  were  great  princes  in  the  south  of  France,  and 


58  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

first  fell  under  the  censures ;    so  it  was  terrible  to  all  other 
princes,  who  thereupon,  to  save  themselves,  delivered  up  their 
subjects  to  the  mercy  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts. 
Fitz-Her-         Burning  was  the  death  they  made  choice  of,  because  witches, 
Nat  ^Br  -    wizartK  and  Sodomites  had  been  so  executed.     Therefore,  to 
vium.  [p.     make  heresy  appear  a  terrible  thing,  this  was  thought  the 
LorulSvo.  most  proper  punishment  of  it.     It  had  also  a  resemblance  of 
1652.]         everlasting  burning,  to  which   they  adjudged  their  souls,   as 
well  as  their  bodies  were  condemned  to  the  fire ;  but  with  this 
signal  difference,  that  they  could  find  no  such  effectual  way  to 
oblige  God  to  execute  their  sentence,  as  they  contrived  against 
the  civil  magistrate.     But  however,  they  confidently  gave  it 
out,  that,  by  virtue  of  that  promise  of  our  Saviour's,  Whose 
sins  ye  bind  on  earth,  they  are  bound  in  heaven,  their  decrees 
were  ratified  in  heaven.     And  it  not  being  easy  to  disprove 
what  they  said,  people  believed  the  one,  as  they  saw  the  other 
sentence    executed.       So   that  Avhatever   they  condemned   as 
heresy  was  looked  on  as  the  worst  thing  in  the  world. 
The  laws  of      There  was  no  occasion  for  the  execution  of  this  law  in  Eng- 
aeafnst       ^anc^  ^  ^ie  ^ays  °^  Wycliffe.     And  the  favour  he  had  from  25 
heretics,      some  great  men  stopped  the  proceedings  against  him.     But  in 
Under        the  fifth  year  of  king  Richard  the  Second,  a  bill  passed  in  the 
house  of  lords,  and  was  assented  to  by  the  king,  and  published 
for  an  act  of  parliament,  though  the  bill  was  never  sent  to  the 
[Statutes,    house  of  commons.    By  this  pretended  law  it  appears,  Wycliffe's 
vol.n.p.25.]  f0i}owers  Were  then  very  numerous ;  that  they  had  a  certain 
habit,  and  did  preach  in  many  places,  both  in  churches,  church- 
yards, and  markets,  without  license  from  the  ordinary ;  and 
did  preach  several  doctrines,  both  against  the  faith,  and  the 
laws  of  the  land,  as  had  been  proved  before  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  the  other  bishops,  prelates,  doctors  of  divinity,  and 
of  the  civil  and  canon  law,  and  others  of  the  clergy  :  that  they 
would  not  submit  to  the  admonitions  nor  censures  of  the  church ; 
but  by  their  subtle  ingenious  words  did  draw  the  people  to 
follow  them,  and  defend  them  by  strong  hand,  and  in  great 
routs.     Therefore  it  was   ordained,  that,   upon  the   bishop's 
certifying  into  the  chancery  the  names  of  such  preachers  and 
their  abettors,  the  chancellor  should  issue  forth  commissions  to 
the  sheriffs  and  other  the  king's  ministers,  to  hold  them  in 
arrest  and  strong  prison,  till  they  should  justify  them  accord- 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  59 

ing  to  the  law  and  reason  of  holy  church.  From  the  gentle- 
ness of  which  law  it  may  appear,  that  England  was  not  then  so 
tame  as  to  hear  the  severity  of  those  cruel  laws  which  were 
settled  and  put  in  execution  in  other  kingdoms. 

The  custom  at  that  time  was  to  engross  copies  of  all  the  acts  Coke's  In- 
of  parliament,  and  to  send  them  with  a  writ  under  the  great  3.  part)' 
seal  to  the  sheriffs,  to  make  them  be  proclaimed  within  their  fhaP-  5-  of 

1   ,  heresy. 

jurisdictions.     And  John19  Bray  brook,  bishop  of  London,  then 
lord  chancellor,  sent  this,  with  the  other  acts  of  that  parlia- 
ment, to  be  proclaimed.     The  writ  bears  date  the  twenty-sixth 
of  May,  5  reg.     But  in  the  next  parliament  that  was  held  in 
the  sixth  year  of  that  king's  reign,  the  commons  preferred  a  6  Rich.  II. 
bill  reciting  the  former  act,  and  constantly  affirmed  that  they  n/,^  K2_ 
had  never  assented  to  it,  and  therefore  desired  it  might  be  de-  Rot-  P^"1- 
clarcd  to  be  void  :    for  they  protested  it  was  never  their  intent  e(j  jn 
to  be  justified,  and  to  bind  themselves  and  their  successors  to  Statatesl 
the  prelates  more  than  their  ancestors  had  done  in  times  past. 
To  which  the  king  gave  the  royal  assent,  as  it  is  in  the  records 
of  parliament.     But  in  the  proclamation  of  the  acts  of  that 
parliament  this  act  was  suppressed ;  so  that  the  former  act  was 
still  looked  on  as  a  good  law,  and  is  printed  in  the  book  of 
statutes.     Such   pious  frauds   were   always   practised  by  the 
popish  clergy,  and  were  indeed  necessary  for  the  supporting 
the  credit  of  that  church.     When  Richard  the  Second  was  do- 
posed,  and  the  crown  usurped  by  Henry  the  Fourth,  then  he,  Another 
in  gratitude  to  the  clergy  that  assisted  him  in  his  coming  to  {iing Henry 
the  crown,  granted  them  a  law  to  their  hearts'  content  in  the  Iv-  tSta-.. 

'  °  17       7  tutes,  vol.11. 

second  year  of  his  reign.    The  preamble  bears,  That  some  had  p.i26.] 
a  new  faith  about  the  sacraments  of  the  church,  and  the 
authority  of  the  same,  and  did  preach  ivithout  authority, 
gathered  conventicles,  taught  schools,  wrote  books  against  the 
catholic  faith ;  ivith  many  other  heinous  aggravations.    Upon 
which  the  prelates  and  clergy,  and  the  commons  of  the  realm,  [Ibid. 
prayed  the  king  to  provide  a  sufficient  remedy  to  so  great  an  "      ' 
evil.      Therefore  the  king,   by  the  assent  of  the  states,  and 
other  discreet  men  of  the  realm,  being  in  the  said  parliament, 
26  did  ordain,  That  none  should  preach  ivithout  license,  except 
persons  privileged;    that  none  should  preach  any  doctrine 
contrary  to  the  catholic  faith,  or  the  determination  of  the 
19  For  Robert.  [G.]  [This  alteration  was  adopted  in  the  edition  of  17 15.] 


60  THE   HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

holy  church,  and  that  none  should  favour  and  abet  them,  nor 
keep  their  books,  but  deliver  them  to  the  diocesan  of  the  place, 
within  forty  days  after  the  proclamation  of  that  statute. 
And  that  if  any  persons  were  defamed,  or  suspected  of  doing 
against  that  ordinance,  then  the  ordinary  might  arrest  them, 
and  keep  them  in  his  prison  till  they  were  canonically  purged 
of  the  articles  laid  against  them,  or  did  abjure  them  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  the  church.  Provided  ahvays,  that  the 
proceedings  against  them  were  publicly  and  judicially  done 
and  ended  within  three  months  after  they  had  been  so  arrested ; 
and  if  they  were  convict,  the  diocesan,  or  his  commissaries, 
might  keep  them  in  prison  as  long  as  to  his  discretion  shall 
seem  expedient,  and  might  fine  them  as  should  seem  competent 
to  him,  certifying  the  fine  into  the  king's  exchequer :  and  if 
any  being  convict  did  refuse  to  abjure,  or  after  abjuration  did 
fall  into  relapse,  then  he  was  to  be  left  to  the  secular  court, 
[Ibkl.  according  to  the  holy  canons.     And  the  mayors,  sheriffs,  or 

P-I28,J        bailiffs   were    to    be  personally  present   at   the  passing  the 
sentence  when  they  should  be  requireel  by  the  diocesan,  or  his 
commissaries,   and  after   the  sentence   they  were  to  receive 
them,  and  them  before  the  people  in  a  high  place  do  to  be 
brent.     By  this  statute  the  sheriffs,  or  other  officers,  were  im- 
mediately to  proceed  to  the  burning  of  heretics  without  any 
writ,   or   warrant  from  the  king.     But  it   seems   the   king's 
learned  council  advised  him  to  issue  out  a  writ,  De  hceretico 
comburendo,  upon  what  grounds  of  law  I  cannot  tell20.     For 
[1400.]        in  the  same  year,  when  William  Sautre  (who  was  the  first  that 
was  put  to   death  upon  the  account  of  heresy)  was  judged 
Fitz-Her-    relapse  by  Thomas  Arundel,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  a 
tura  Bre^"    convocation  of  his  province,  and  thereupon  was  degraded  from 
vium.  [p.     priesthood,  and  left  to  secular  power ;  a  writ  was  issued  out  to 
burn  him,  which  in  the  writ  is  called  the  customary  punish- 
ment, (relating,  it  is  like,  to  the  customs  that  were  beyond-1 

20  Nor  will  I  pretend  to  say.  But  appears  pretty  plain  this  was  the 
from  Fitzherbert  it  seems  to  appear  customary  punishment  in  England ; 
that  this  writ  issued  before  this  act  who  quotes  Britton,  cap. 17.  (Cap.  9. 
of  parliament  passed,  (Fox  places  it  should  be.)  Heretikes  sert  auxi 
Sautre's  death  anno  1400,)  and  that  comburs  et  arces,  et  appiert  per  ceo 
the  custom  for  the  writ  had  been  liver,  que  ceo  est  le  comen  ley. 
formerly  so.  De  naturd  Brevium,  Quod  vide  in  Britton,  cap.  1 7 ;  who 
p.  269.    [B.]  lived  many  years  before.    [B.] 

21  From  the  same  Fitzherbert  it 


book  l]  THE  REFORMATION.  61 

sea.)  But  this  writ  was  not  necessary  by  the  law,  and  there- 
fore it  seems  these  writs  were  not  enrolled  :  for  in  the  whole 
reign  of  king  Henry  the  Eighth  I  have  not  been  able  to  find 
any  of  these  writs  in  the  rolls.  But  by  Warham's  register  I 
see  the  common  course  of  the  law  was,  to  certify  into  the 
chancery  the  conviction  of  an  heretic,  upon  which  the  writ  was 
issued  out,  if  the  king  did  not  send  a  pardon.  Thus  it  went  on 
all  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Fourth.  But  in  the  beginning  of 
his  son's  reign,  there  was  a  conspiracy  (as  was  pretended)  by 
sir  John  Oldcastle,  and  some  others,  against  the  king  and  the 
clergy ;  upon  which  many  were  put  in  prison,  and  twenty- 
nine  were  both  attainted  of  treason,  and  condemned  of  heresy, 
so  they  were  both  hanged  and  burnt.  But,  as  a  writer  Hall. 
that  lived  in  the  following  age  says,  Certain  affirmed  that 
these  were  but  feigned  causes,  surmised  of  the  spiritualty 
more  of  displeasure  than  truth.  That  conspiracy,  whether 
real  or  pretended,  produced  a  severe  act  against  those  heretics, 
who  were  then  best  known  by  the  name  of  Lollards.  By 
which  act  all  officers  of  state,  judges,  justices  of  the  peace, 
mayors,  sheriffs,  and  bailiffs,  were  to  be  sworn,  when  they  took 
their  employments,  to  use  their  whole  power  and  diligence  to 
destroy  all  heresies  and  errors,  called  Lollardies,  and  to  assist 
the  ordinaries  and  their  commissaries  in  their  proceedings 
against  them :  and  that  the  Lollards  should  forfeit  all  the  lands 
they  held  mfee  simple,  and  their  goods  and  chattels  to  the  king. 
27  The  clergy,  according  to  the  genius  of  that  religion,  having 
their  authority  fortified  with  such  severe  laws,  were  now  more 
cruel  and  insolent  than  ever.  And  if  any  man  denied  them 
any  part  of  that  respect,  or  of  those  advantages,  to  which  they 
pretended,  he  was  presently  brought  under  the  suspicion  of 
heresy,  and  vexed  with  imprisonments,  and  articles  were 
brought  against  him. 

Upon  which  great  complaints  followed.  And  the  judges,  to 
correct  this,  granted  habeas  corpus  upon  their  imprisonments, 
and  examined  the  warrants,  and  cither  bailed  or  discharged 
the  prisoners  as  they  saw  cause  :  for  though  the  decrees  of  the 
church  had  made  many  things  heresy,  so  that  the  clergy  had 
much  matter  to  work  upon ;  yet  when  offenders  against  them 
in  other  things  could  not  be  charged  with  any  formal  heresy, 
then  by  consequences  they  studied  to  fasten  it  on  them,  but 


62  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Fifth  year  wore  sometimes  overruled  by  the  judges.  Thus,  when  one 
of.  dwar  g;eySer  (w]10  Was  excommunicated  by  Thomas  Bourchier,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  at  the  suit  of  another)  said  openly,  that 
That  sentence  was  not  to  be  feared  ;  for  though  the  archbishop 
or  his  commissary  had  excommunicated  him,  yet  he  ivas  not 
excommunicated  before  God;  he  was  upon  this  committed  by 
the  archbishop's  warrant,  as  one  justly  suspected  of  heresy  : 
but  the  judges,  upon  his  moving  for  an  habeas  corpus,  granted 
it ;  and  the  prisoner  being  brought  to  the  bar,  with  the  warrant 
for  his  imprisonment,  they  found  the  matter  contained  in  it  was 
not  within  the  statute,  and  first  bailed  him,  and  after  that  they 
discharged  him.  One  Warner  of  London,  having  said,  That 
he  ivas  not  bound  to  pay  tithes  to  his  curate,  was  also  im- 
prisoned by  Edward  Vaughan.,  at  the  command  of  the  bishop 
of  London ;  but  he  escaped  out  of  prison,  and  brought  his 
action  of  false  imprisonment  against  Vaughan.  Whereupon 
Vaughan  pleading  the  statute  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  and  that 
his  opinion  was  an  heresy  against  the  determination  of  the 
catholic  faith,  the  court  of  the  common  pleas  judged,  That  the 
words  were  not  within  the  statute,  and  that  his  opinion  was 
an  error,  but  no  heresy.  So  that  the  judges,  looking  on  them- 
selves as  the  interpreters  of  the  law,  thought,  that  even  in  the 
case  of  heresy  they  had  authority  to  declare  what  was  heresy 
by  the  law,  and  what  not:  but  what  opposition  the  clergy 
made  to  this,  I  do  not  know. 

I  hope  the  reader  will  easily  excuse  this  digression,  it  being 
so  material  to  the  history  that  is  to  follow.     I  shall  next  set 
down  what  I  find  in  the  records  about  the  proceedings  against 
heretics  in  the  beginning  of  this  reio-n. 
Warham**        On  the  second  of  May,   in   the  year  1511,   six   men  and 
mgsao-ainst  f°ur    women,    most    of  them    being  of  Tenterdcn,    appeared 
heretics,      before  archbishop  Warham,  in  his  manor  of  Knoll,  and  ab- 
Warham,    jured  the  following  errors.     First,  That  in  the  sacrament  of 
fol.  164.       the   altar    is   not   the   body    of   Christ,    but    material    bread. 
Secondly,  That  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  confirmation  are 
not  necessary  nor  profitable  for  men's  souls.    Thirdly,  That  con- 
fession of  sins  ought  not  to  be  made  to  a  priest.   Fourthly,  That 
there  is  no  more  power  given  by  God  to  a  priest  than  to  a  layman. 
Fifthly,  That  the  solemnization  of  matrimony  is  not  profitable 
nor  necessary  for  the  well  of  man's  soul.     Sixthly,  That  the 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  63 

sacrament  of  extreme  unction  is  not  profitable  nor  necessary 
for  man's  soul.  Seventhly,  That  pilgrimages  to  holy  and 
devout  places  be  not  profitable,  neither  meritorious  for  man's 
28  soul.  Eighthly,  That  images  of  saints  be  not  to  be  worshipped. 
Ninthly,  That  a  man  should  pray  to  no  saint,  but  only  to  God. 
Tenthly,  That  holy  water  and  holy  bread  be  not  the  better 
after  the  benediction  made  by  the  priest,  than  before.  And  as 
they  abjured  these  opinions,  so  they  were  made  to  swear,  that 
they  should  discover  all  whom  they  knew  to  hold  these  errors, 
or  who  were  suspected  of  them,  or  that  did  keep  any  private 
conventicles,  or  were  fautors,  or  comforters  of  them  that  pub- 
lished such  doctrines.  Two  other  men  of  Tenterden  did  that 
day  in  the  afternoon  abjure  most  of  these  opinions.  The 
court  sat  again  the  fifth  of  May,  and  the  archbishop  enjoined 
them  penance,  to  wear  the  badge  of  a  fagot  in  flames  on  their 
clothes  during  their  lives,  or  till  they  were  dispensed  with  for 
it ;  and  that  in  the  procession,  both  at  the  cathedral  of  Can- 
terbury, and  at  their  own  parish  churches,  they  should  carry  a 
fagot  on  their  shoulders :  which  was  looked  on  as  a  public  con- 
fession that  they  deserved  burning. 

That  same  day  another  of  Tenterden  abjured  the  same  doc- 
trines. On  the  fifteenth  of  May  the  court  sat  at  Lambeth, 
where  four  men  and  one  woman  abjured.  On  the  nineteenth 
four  men  more  abjured.  On  the  third  of  June  a  man  and  a 
woman  abjured.  Another  woman  the  twenty-sixth  of  July. 
Another  man  the  twenty-ninth  of  July.  Two  women  on  the 
second  of  August.  A  man  on  the  third,  and  a  woman  on  the 
eighth  of  August.  Three  men  on  the  sixteenth  of  August ; 
and  three  men  and  a  woman  on  the  third  of  September.  In 
these  abjurations  some  were  put  to  abjure  more,  some  fewer  of 
the  former  doctrines;  and  in  some  of  their  abjurations  two 
articles  more  were  added  :  First,  That  the  images  of  the  cru- 
cifix, of  our  Lady,  and  other  saints,  ought  not  to  be  worshipped, 
because  they  were  made  with  men's  hands,  and  were  but  stocks 
and  stones.  Secondly,  That  money  and  labours  spent  in  pil- 
grimages was  all  in  vain.  All  these  persons  (whether  they 
were  unjustly  accused,  or  were  overcome  with  fear,  or  had  but 
crude  conceptions  of  those  opinions,  and  so  were  easily  frighted 
out  of  them)  abjured  and  performed  the  penance  that  was 
enjoined  them.     Others  met  with  harder  measure  ;  for  on  the 


64  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

twenty-ninth  of  April,  in  the  same  year  1511.  one  William 
Carder  of  Tenterden  being  indicted  on  the  former  articles,  he 
denied  them  all  but  one,  That  he  had  said  it  was  enough  to 
■pray  to  Almighty  God  alone,  and  therefore  ive  needed  not  to 
pray  to  saints  for  any  mediation.  Upon  which  witnesses 
were  brought  against  him,  who  were  all  such  as  were  then 
prisoners,  but  intended  to  abjure,  and  were  now  made  use  of 
to  convict  others.  They  swore  that  he  had  taught  them  these 
opinions.  When  their  depositions  were  published,  he  said  he 
did  repent  if  he  had  said  any  thing  against  the  faith  and  the 
sacraments  ;  but  he  did  not  remember  that  he  had  ever  said 
any  such  thing.  Sentence  was  given  upon  him  as  an  obstinate 
heretic,  and  he  was  delivered  up  to  the  secular  power.  On 
the  same  day  a  woman,  Agnes  Grevill,  was  indicted  upon  the 
same  articles.  She  pleaded  Not  guilty  :  but,  by  a  strange 
kind  of  proceeding,  her  husband  and  her  two  sons  were  brought 
in  witnesses  against  her.  Her  husband  deposed,  that  in  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  king  Edward  the  Fourth,  one  John  Ive  had 
persuaded  her  into  these  opinions,  in  wdiich  she  had  persisted 
ever  since :  her  sons  also  deposed,  that  she  had  been  still 
infusing  these  doctrines  into  them.  One  Robert  Harrison  was 
also  indicted,  and  pleading  not  guilty,  witnesses  did  prove  the 
articles  against  him.  And  on  the  second  of  May  sentence  was  29 
given  against  these  twro  as  obstinate  heretics.  And  the  same 
day  the  archbishop  signed  the  writs  for  certifying  these  sen- 
tences into  the  chancery,  which  conclude  in  these  words  :  Our 
holy  mother  the  church  having  nothing  further  that  she  can 
do  in  this  matter,  ive  leave  the  forementioned  heretics,  and 
every  one  of  them,  to  your  royal  highness,  and  to  your  secular 
council.  And  on  the  eighth  of  May,  John  Brown  and  Edward 
Walker,  being  also  indicted  of  heresy  on  the  former  points, 
they  both  pleaded  not  guilty.  But  the  witnesses  deposing 
against  them,  they  were  judged  obstinate  heretics  ;  and  the 
former  a  relapse,  for  he  had  abjured  before  cardinal  Morton. 
And  on  the  nineteenth  of  May  sentence  was  given.  When  or 
how  the  sentences  wrero  executed,  1  cannot  find.  Sure  I  am, 
there  are  no  pardons  upon  record  for  any  of  them  ;  and  it  was 
the  course  of  the  law,  either  to  send  a  pardon,  or  to  issue  out 
the  writ  for  burning  them. 

[Fox,  vol.        Fox  mentions  none  of  these  proceedings  ;  only  he  tells  that 
ii.  p.  7.] 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  65 

John  Brown  was  taken  for  some  words  said  in  discourse  with  a 
priest,  about  the  saying  of  masses  for  redeeming  souls  out  of 
purgatory.  Upon  which  he  was  committed  for  suspicion  of 
heresy  :  but  Fox  seems  to  have  been  misinformed  about  the 
time  of  his  burning,  which  he  says  was  anno  1517 ;  for  they 
would  not  have  kept  a  condemned  heretic  six  years  out  of  the 
fire.  I  never  find  them  guilty  of  any  such  clemency.  These 
severe  sentences  made  the  rest  so  apprehensive  of  their  danger, 
that  all  the  others  who  were  indicted  abjured.  And  in  the 
year  1512,  on  the  fifth  of  June,  two  men  and  two  women 
abjured  that  article,  That  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  there 
was  only  material  bread,  and  not  the  body  of  Christ.  And  on 
the  fourth  and  thirteenth  of  September,  two  other  women 
abjured  the  former  articles :  and  this  is  all  that  is  in  Warham's 
register  about  heretics. 

In  what  remains  of  Fitz-James,  bishop  of  London's  register,  Fitz- 
there  are  but  three  abjurations.     In  the  year  1509,  one  Eliza-  sh™tf 
beth  Sampson,  of  Aldermanbury,  was  indicted  for  having  spoken  London's 
reproachfully  of  the  images  of  our  lady  of  Wilsden,  Crom,  and  ? awainst 
Walsingham,  condemning  pilgrimages  to  them,  and  saying,  It  heretics, 
was  better  to  give  alms  at  home  to  poor  people,  than  to  go  on 
pilgrimages ;  and  that  images  were  but  stocks  and  stones ;  and 
denying  the  virtue  of  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  when  the 
priest  was  not  in  clean  life,  and  saying,  It  was  but  bread,  and 
that  Christ  could  not  be  both  in  heaven  and  earth ;  and  for 
denying  Christ's  ascension  to  heaven,  and  saying,  That  more 
should  not  go  to  heaven  than  were  already  in  it.     But  she,  to 
be  free  of  further  trouble,  confessed  herself  guilty,  and  abjured 
all  those  opinions.     It  is  generally  observed,  that  in  the  pro- 
ceedings against  Lollards,  the  clergy  always  mixed  some  capi- 
tal errors,  which  all  Christians  rejected,  with  those  for  which 
they  accused  them ;  and  some  particulars  being  proved,  they 
gave  it  out  that  they  were  guilty  of  them  all,  to  represent 
them  the  more  odious.     And  in  this  case  the  thing  is  plain  : 
for  this  woman  is  charged  for  denying  Christ's  ascension ;  and 
yet  another  of  the  articles  was,  That  she  said  Christ's  body 
could  not  be  in  the  sacrament,  because  it  could  not  be  both  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.     Which  two  opinions  are  inconsistent. 
In   the  year  1511   William   Potier  was  indicted  for  saying, 

BURNET,  PART.  I.  F 


G6  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

There  were  three  Gods,  and  that  he  knew  not  for  what  Christ's 

passion,  or  baptism,  availed ;  and  did  abjure.      Whether  he  30 

only  spoke  these  things  impiously,  or  whether  he  held  them  in 

opinion,  is  not  clear  ;  but  certainly  he  was  no  Lollard.     One 

Joan  Baker  was  also  made  to  abjure  some  words  she  had  said, 

That  images  were  but  idols,  and  not  to  be  worshipped  ;  and 

that  they  were  set  up  by  the  priests  out  of  covetousness,  that 

they  might  grow  rich  by  them  ;  and  that  pilgrimages  were  not 

[Fox,  vol.    to  be  made.     More  is  not  in  that  register :  but  Fox  gives  an 

"■  p*  5-J      account  of  six  others,  who   were  burnt  in  Fitz-James'  time. 

On  this  I  have  been  the  longer,  that  it  may  appear  what  were 

the  opinions  of  the  Lollards  at  that  time,  before  Luther  had 

published  any  thing  against  the  indulgences.    For  these  opinions 

did  very  much  dispose  people  to  receive  the  writings  which 

came  afterwards  out  of  Germany. 

The  pro-         The  first  beginnings  and  progress  of  Luther's  doctrine  are 

Luther's      so  we^  known,  that  I  need  not  tell  how,  upon  the  publishing 

doctrine,     of  indulgences  in  Germany,  in  so  gross  a  manner,  that  for  a 

little  money  any  man  might  both  preserve  himself,  and  deliver 

his  friends  out  of  purgatory.     Many   were  offended  at  this 

merchandise,  against  which  Luther  wrote.     But  it  concerning 

the  see  of  Rome  in  so  main  a  point  of  their  prerogative,  which 

would  also  have  cut  off  a  great  branch  of  their  revenue,  he 

was  proceeded  against  with  extreme  severity  :  so  small  a  spark 

as  that  collision  made  could  never  have  raised  so  great  a  fire, 

if  the  world  had  not  been  strongly  disposed  to  it  by  the  just 

prejudices  they  had  conceived  against  the  popish  clergy,  whose 

ignorance  and  lewd  lives  had  laid  them  so  open  to  contempt 

and  hatred,  that  any  one  that  would  set  himself  against  them, 

could  not  but  be  kindly  looked  on  by  the  people.     They  had 

engrossed  the  greatest  part  both  of  the  riches  and  power  of 

Christendom,  and  lived  at  their  ease  and  in  much  wealth.   And 

the  corruptions  of  their  worship  and  doctrine  were  such,  that  a 

very  small  proportion  of  common  sense,  with  but  an  overly 

looking  on  the  New  Testament,  discovered  them.      Nor  had 

they  any  other  varnish  to  colour  them  by,  but  the  authority 

and  traditions  of  the  church.     But  when  some  studious  men 

began  to  read  the  ancient  fathers  and  councils,  (though  there 

was  then  a  great  mixture  of  sophisticated  stuff  that  went  under 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  67 

the  ancient  names,  and  was  joined  to  their  true  works,  which 
critics  have  since  discovered  to  be  spurious,)  they  found  a  vast 
difference  between  the  first  five  ages  of  the  Christian  church, 
in  which  piety  and  learning  prevailed,  and  the  last  ten  ages, 
in  which  ignorance  had  buried  all  their  former  learning ;  only 
a  little  misguided  devotion  was  retained  for  six  of  these  ages  ; 
and  in  the  last  four,  the  restless  ambition  and  usurpation  of  the 
popes  was  supported  by  the  seeming  holiness  of  the  begging 
friars,  and  the  false  counterfeits  of  learning,  which  were  among 
the  canonists,  schoolmen,  and  casuists.  So  that  it  was  incredi- 
ble to  see  how  men,  notwithstanding  all  the  opposition  the 
princes  every  where  made  to  the  progress  of  these  reputed 
new  opinions,  and  the  great  advantages  by  which  the  church 
of  Rome  both  held  and  drew  many  into  their  interests,  were 
generally  inclined  to  these  doctrines.  Those  of  the  clergy, 
who  at  first  preached  them,  were  of  the  begging  orders  of 
friars,  who  having  fewer  engagements  on  them  from  their 
interests,  were  freer  to  discover  and  follow  the  truth  :  and  the 
austere  discipline  they  had  been  trained  under,  did  prepare 
them  to  encounter  those  difficulties  that  lay  in  their  way.  And 
HI  the  laity,  that  had  long  looked  on  their  pastors  with  an  evil 
eye,  did  receive  these  opinions  very  easily ;  which  did  both 
discover  the  impostures  with  which  the  world  had  been  abused, 
and  shewed  a  plain  and  simple  way  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
by  putting  the  scriptures  into  their  hands,  and  such  other 
instructions  about  religion  as  were  sincere  and  genuine.  The 
clergy,  who  at  first  despised  these  new  preachers,  were  at 
length  much  alarmed  when  they  saw  all  people  running  after 
them,  and  receiving  their  doctrines. 

As  these  things  did  spread  much  in  Germany,  Switzerland, 
and  the  Netherlands,  so  their  books  came  over  into  England, 
where  there  was  much  matter  already  prepared  to  be  wrought 
on,  not  only  by  the  prejudices  they  had  conceived  against  the 
corrupt  clergy,  but  by  the  opinions  of  the  Lollards,  which  had 
been  now  in  England  since  the  days  of  Wycliffe,  for  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years :  between  which  opinions,  and  the 
doctrines  of  the  reformers,  there  was  great  affinity  ;  and  there- 
fore, to  give  the  better  vent  to  the  books  that  came  out  of 
Germany,  many  of  them   were  translated    into   the  English 

p2 


G8  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

tongue,  and  were  very  much  read  and  applauded.  This  quick- 
ened the  proceedings  against  the  Lollards,  and  the  inquiry  be- 
came so  severe,  that  great  numbers  were  brought  into  the  toils 
of  the  bishops  and  their  commissaries.  If  a  man  had  spoken 
but  a  light  word  against  any  of  the  constitutions  of  the  church, 
he  was  seized  on  by  the  bishop's  officers ;  and  if  any  taught 
their  children  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and 
the  Apostles'  Creed,  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  that  was  crime 
enough  to  bring  them  to  the  stake  :  as  it  did  six  men  and 
Fox.  [vol.  a  woman  at  Coventry,  in  the  Passion  week,  1519,  being  the 
181.]  4'  fourth  of  April.  Longland,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  was  very  cruel 
to  all  that  were  suspected  of  heresy  in  his  diocese :  several  of 
them  abjured,  and  some  were  burnt. 

But  all  that  did  not  produce  what  they  designed  by  it.     The 
clergy  did  not  correct  their  own  faults ;    and  their  cruelty  was 
looked  on  as  an  evidence  of  guilt,  and  of  a  weak  cause  ;  so  that 
the  method  they  took  wrought  only  on  people's  fears,  and  made 
them  more  cautious  and  reserved,  but  did  not  at  all  remove  the 
cause,  nor  work  either  on  their  reasons  or  affections. 
The  king         Upon  all  this,  the  king,  to  got  himself  a  name,  and  to  have 
against  Lu-  a  lasting  interest  with  the  clergy,  thought  it  not  enough  to 
ther,  1522.  assist  them  with  his  authority,   but  would  needs  turn  their 
champion,  and  write  against  Luther21  in  defence  of  the  seven 
sacraments.     This  book  was  magnified  by  the  clergy  as  the 
most  learned  work  that  ever  the  sun  saw ;    and  he  was  com- 
pared to  king  Solomon,  and  to  all  the  Christian  emperors  that 

21  [Assertio  septem  sacramento-  sent  of  the  makers  of  the  same,  I 

rum   adversus   Martin.    Luther um,  was  only  a  sorter  out  and  placer  of 

edita    ab    invictissimo    Anglise    et  the  principal  matters  therein  contain - 

Francia?  rege  et  do.  Hyberniae  Hen-  ed.  [p.  81.]   So  it  seems  others  were 

rico  ejus  nominis  octavo.     A  copy  makers,  and  sir  Thomas  More  only 

of  this  is  in  the  Bodleian,  consisting  a  sorter.    By  the  style  it  was  guessed 

of  158  pages,  without  date  or  name  by  some  to  be  wrote  by  Erasmus, 

of  printer.]  and  he  (in  mirth  I  suppose)  owns 

No  doubt  this  book  was  wrote  the  king  might  have  hit  upon  his 

by  the  king  as  other  books  were  style,  several  letters  having  passed 

under    his  name;    that  is,   by   his  between   them.    [B.]     [This   work 

bishops  or  other  learned  men.     Sir  has  since  been  published  with  the 

Thomas    More,   who     must     have  title  '  Vita  D.  Thomae  Mori  lingua 

known  the  authors,  gives  this  ac-  Anglicana  contexta,  &c.  8vo.  Oxon, 

count   of  it,   in    his    MS.    life   by  17 16.'     The  last  edition  is  that  by 

Roper;  that  after  it  was  finished  by  Singer,  8vo.  Chiswick  J 81 7.] 
his  grace's  appointment,  and  con- 


book  i.]  THE  REFORMATION.  69 

had  ever  been :  and  it  was  the  chief  subject  of  flattery  for 
many  years,  besides  the  glorious  title  of  Defender  of  the  Faith, 
which  the  pope  bestowed  on  him  for  it.  And  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged, that,  considering  the  age,  and  that  it  was  the 
work  of  a  king,  it  did  deserve  some  commendation.  But 
Luther  was  not  at  all  daunted  at  it,  but  rather  valued  himself 
upon  it,  that  so  great  a  king  had  entered  the  lists  with  him, 
and  answered  his  book.  And  he  replied,  not  without  a  large 
mixture  of  acrimony,  for  which  he  was  generally  blamed,  as 
forgetting  that  great  respect  that  is  due  to  the  persons  of 
sovereign  princes. 

But  all  would  not  do.     These  opinions  still  gained  more 
footing ;   and  William  Tyndale  made  a  translation  of  the  New 
'32  Testament  in  English,  to  which  he  added  some  short  glosses. 
This  was  printed  in  Antwerp,  and  sent  over  into  England  in 
the  year  1526.     Against  which  there  was  a  prohibition  pub-  Ock>l>.  13. 
lished  by  every  bishop  in  his  diocese,  bearing  that  some  of  lef  •luilst- 
Luther's  followers  had  erroneously  translated  the  New  Testa-  with  which 
ment,  and  had  corrupted  the  word  of  God,  both  by  a  false  agrees  ex. 
translation,  and  by  heretical  glosses :  therefore  they  required  actly- 
all  incumbents  to  charge  all  within  their  parishes,  that  had  any 
of  these,  to  bring  them  in  to  the  vicar-general  within  thirty 
days  after  that  premonition,  under  the  pains  of  excommunica- 
tion, and  incurring  the  suspicion  of  heresy.     There  were  also 
many  other  books  prohibited  at  that  time,  most  of  them  written 
by  Tyndale.     And  sir  Thomas  More,  who  was  a  man  celebrated  Collect. 
for  virtue  and  learning,  undertook  the  answering  of  some  of       u *' 
those ;   but,  before  he  went  about  it,  he  would  needs  have  the 
bishop's  license  for  keeping  and  reading  them.     lie  wrote,  ac- 
cording to  the   way  of  the  age,   with  much  bitterness :  and 
though  he  had  been  no  friend  to  the  monks,  and  a  great 
declaimer  against  the  ignorance  of  the  clergy,  and  had  been  ill 
used  by  the  cardinal ;   yet  he  was  one  of  the  bitterest  enemies 
of  the  new  preachers ;  not  without  great  cruelty  when  he  came 
into  power,  though   he   was  otherwise  a  very  good-natured 
man.     So  violently  did   the   Roman   clergy  hurry  all   their 
friends  into  those  excesses  of  fire  and  sword. 

When  the  party  became  so  considerable,  that  it  was  known 
there  were  societies  of  them,  not  only  in  London,  but  in  both 


70  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  universities,  then  the  cardinal  was  constrained  to  act.  His 
contempt  of  the  clergy  was  looked  on  as  that  which  gave 
encouragement  to  the  heretics.  When  reports  were  brought 
to  court  of  a  company  that  were  in  Cambridge,  Bilney, 
Latimer,  and  others,  that  read  and  propagated  Luther's  book 
and  opinions;  some  bishops  moved,  in  the  year  1523,  that 
there  might  be  a  visitation  appointed  to  go  to  Cambridge,  for 
trying  who  were  the  fautors  of  heresy  there.  But  he,  as 
legate,  did  inhibit  it,  (upon  what  grounds  I  cannot  imagine,) 
which  was  brought  against  him  afterwards  in  parliament, 
(art.  43.  of  his  impeachment.)  Yet  when  these  doctrines  were 
spread  every  where,  he  called  a  meeting  of  all  the  bishops, 
and  divines,  and  canonists  about  London ;  where  Thomas 
Bilney  and  Thomas  Arthur  were  brought  before  them,  and 
articles  were  brought  in  against  them.  The  whole  process  is 
[Fox,  vol.  set  down  at  length  by  Fox,  in  all  points  according  to  Tunstall's 
sqqP]>  2  Register,  except  one  fault  in  the  translation.  When  the 
cardinal  asked  Bilney  whether  he  had  not  taken  an  oath 
before,  not  to  preach,  or  defend  any  of  Luther's  doctrines ;  he 
confessed  he  had  done  it,  but  not  judicially,  (Judicialiter  in 
the  Register.)  This  Fox  translates,  not  lawfully.  In  all  the 
other  particulars  there  is  an  exact  agreement  between  the 
Register  and  his  Acts.  The  sum  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
court  was,  That  after  examination  of  witnesses,  and  several 
other  steps  in  the  process,  which  the  cardinal  left  to  the  bishop 
of  London,  and  the  other  bishops,  to  manage,  Bilney  stood  out 
long,  and  seemed  resolved  to  suffer  for  a  good  conscience.  In 
the  end,  what  through  human  infirmity,  what  through  the 
great  importunity  of  the  bishop  of  London,  who  set  all  his 
[Ibid.  friends  on  him,  he  did  abjure  on  the  seventh  of  December,  as 
ribid  Arthur  had  done  on  the  second  of  that  month.     And  though 

p.  ai2.]  Bilney  was  relapsed,  and  so  was  to  expect  no  mercy  by  the 
law,  yet  the  bishop  of  London  enjoined  him  penance,  and 
let  him  go.  For  Tunstall  being  a  man  both  of  good  learning  33 
and  an  unblemished  life,  these  virtues  produced  one  of  their 
ordinary  effects  in  him,  great  moderation,  that  was  so  eminent 
in  him,  that  at  no  time  did  he  dip  his  hands  in  blood.  Geoffry, 
Loni,  and  Thomas  Gerrard,  also  abjured  for  having  had 
Luther's  books,  and  defending  his  opinions. 


book  i.  THE  REFORMATION.  71 

These  were  the  proceedings  against  heretics  in  the  first  half 
of  this  reign.  And  thus  far  I  have  opened  the  state  of  affairs, 
both  as  to  religious  and  civil  concerns,  for  the  first  eighteen 
years  of  this  king's  time,  with  what  observations  I  could  gather 
of  the  dispositions  and  tempers  of  the  nation  at  that  time, 
which  prepared  them  for  the  changes  that  followed  after- 
wards. 


THE  END  OF  THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


THE  HISTORY 


OP 


THE    REFORMATION 


OP 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 


PART  L— BOOK  II. l 


Of  the  i^ocess  of  divorce  between  king  Henry  and  queen 
Catharine,  and  of  what  passed  from  the  nineteenth  to  the 
twenty-fifth  year  of  his  reign,  in  which  he  was  declared 
supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England. 

The  be-      .K.ING  Henry  hitherto  lived  at  ease,  and  enioved  his  pleasures; 

ginning  of  "  iii  it 

the  suit  of  he  made  war  with  much  honour,  and  that  always  produced  a 
divorce.  jugj.  an(j  advantageous  peace.  He  had  no  trouble  upon  him  in 
all  his  affairs,  except  about  the  getting  of  money,  and  even  in 
that  the  cardinal  eased  him.  But  now  a  domestic  trouble 
arose,  which  perplexed  all  the  rest  of  his  government,  and 
drew  after  it  consequences  of  a  high  nature. 

Henry  the  Seventh,  upon  wise  and  good  considerations, 
resolved  to  link  himself  in  a  close  confederacy  with  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  kings  of  Castile  and  Arragon,  and  with  the  house 
of  Burgundy  against  France,  which  was  looked  on  as  the  lasting 
and  dangerous  enemy  of  England.     And  therefore  a  match 

The  mar-    was  agreed  on  between  his  son,  prince  Arthur,  and  Catharine, 

riage  of 

1  [Facing  the  commencement  of  to  be  Nata  i486.     The  book  De 

book  II.  the  original  edition  has  a  visibili  Rom'anarchia,  an  authentic 

portrait  of  Catharine   of  Arragon,  piece,   says  thus  ;    Haec   decimum 

upon  which  the  following  remark  is  octavum,    ille     decimum    quintum 

made  in  Number  4  of  the  Appendix  setatis  annum  cum  hse  nuptiae  cele- 

to  the  first  and  second  volumes.]  brarentur,    expleverat.     Pag.    135. 

The  queen  under  her  picture  is  said  Sandford,  p.  445.     [B.] 


book  ii.]       HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  (1.501.)     73 

the  infanta  of  Spain,  whose  eldest  sister  Joan  was  married  to  prince  Ar- 
Philip,  that  was  then  duke  of  Burgundy,  and  earl  of  Flanders ;  infanta  of 
out  of  which  arose  a  triple  alliance  between  England,  Spain,  sPain- 
and  Burgundy,  against  the  king  of  France,  who  was  then 
become  formidable  to  all  about  him.     There  was  given  with 
her  two  hundred  thousand  ducats,  the  greatest  portion  that 
had  been  given  for  many  ages  with  any  princess,  which  made 
it  not  the  less  acceptable  to  king  Henry  the  Seventh. 
35      The  infanta  was  brought  into  England,  and  on  the  fourteenth 
of  November  was  married  at  St.  Paul's  to  the  prince  of  Wales. 
They  lived  together  as  man  and  wife  till  the  second  of  April 
following ;    and  not  only  had  their  bed  solemnly  blest  when  See  the  de- 
they  were  put  in  it,  on  the  night  of  their  marriage,  but  also  Witnesses0 
were  seen  publicly  in  bed  for  several  days  after,  and  went  inlordHer- 
down  to  live  at  Ludlow  Castle  in  Wales,  where  they  still  bedded  270.] 
together.     But  prince  Arthur,  though  a  strong  and  healthful  Prince 
youth  when  he  married  her,  yet  died  soon  after,  which  some  deat^Apr 
thought  was  hastened  by  his  too  early  marriage.    The  Spanish  2,  1502. 
ambassador  had  by  his  master's  order  taken  proofs  of  the  con- 
summation of  the  marriage,  and  sent  them  into  Spain;    the 
young  prince  also  himself  had  by  many  expressions  given  his 
servants  cause  to  believe,  that  his  marriage  was  consummated  the 
first  night,  which  in  a  youth  of  sixteen  years  of  age,  that  was 
vigorous  and  healthful,  was  not  at  all  judged  strange.     It  was 
so  constantly  believed,  that,  when  he  died,  his  younger  brother 
Henry  duke  of  York  was  not  called  prince  of  Wales  for  some  Bacon's 
considerable  time  :    some  say  for  one  month,  some  for   six  r\y"r^s     ' 
months.      And  he  was  not  created  prince  of  Wales  till  ten  vol.  v.  p. 
months  were  elapsed,  viz.  in  the  February  following,  when  it  Lond. 
was  apparent  that  his  brother's  wife  was  not  with  child  by  l826-l 
him.     These  things  were  afterwards  looked  on  as  a  full  de- 
monstration (being  as  much  as  the  thing  was  capable  of)  that 
the  princess  was  not  a  virgin  after  prince  Arthur's  death. 

But  the  reason  of  state  still  standing  for  keeping  up  the  Consulta- 
alliance  against  France,  and  king  Henry  the  Seventh  having  a™0^ut 
no  mind  to  let  so  great  a  revenue  as  she  had  in  jointure  be  marriage  of 
carried  out  of  the  kingdom,  it  was  proposed,  that  she  should  t0  njs  m.0.' 
be   married  to  the  younger  brother   Henry,   now   prince   ofther- 
Wales.   The  two  prelates  that  were  then  in  greatest  esteem  with 
king  Henry  the  Seventh  were  Warham,  archbishop  of  Canter-  Warham's 

deposition 


74  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

niLd  Her-  bury,  and  Fox,  bishop  of  Winchester.     The  former  delivered 

bert.  [pp.         ...  .  . 

271, 273.]    his  opinion  against  it,  and  told  the  king,  that  he  thought  it 
was  neither  honourable  nor  well-pleasing  to  God.     The  bishop 
of  Winchester  persuaded  it ;  and  for  the  objections  that  were 
against  it,  and  the  murmuring  of  the  people,  who  did  not  like 
a  marriage  that  was  disputable,  lest  out  of  it  new  wars  should 
afterwards  arise  about  the  right  of  the  crown,  the  pope's  dis- 
pensation  was  thought  sufficient  to  answer  all ;  and  his  au- 
thority was  then  so  undisputed  that  it  did  it  effectually.     So  a 
It  is  allow-  bull  was  obtained  on  the  twenty -sixth  of  December,  1503,  to 
pope,  Col-  this  effect,  That  the  pope,  according  to  the  greatness  of  his 
lections,      authority,  having  received  a  petition  from  prince  Henry  and 
[Herbert,    the  princess  Catharine,  bearing,   That  whereas  the  princess 
V-  204 -J       was  lawfully  married  to  prince  Arthur,  (which  ivas  perhaps 
consummated  by  the  carnalis  copula,)  who  ivas  dead  without 
any  issue,  but  they,  being  desirous  to  marry  for  preserving 
the  peace  between  the  crowns  of  England  and  Spain,  did 
petition  his  holiness  for  his  dispensation ;  therefore  the  pope, 
out  of  his  care  to  maintain  peace  among  all  catholic  kings, 
did  absolve  them  from  all  censures  under  ivhich  they  might 
be,  and  dispensed  with  the  impediment  of  their  affinity,  not- 
withstanding any  apostolical  constitutions  or  ordinances  to 
the  contrary,  and  gave  them  leave  to  marry ;  or  if  they  were 
already  married,  lie  confirming  it,  required  their  confessor  to 
enjoin  them  some  healthf id  penance  for  their  having  married 
before  the  dispensation  was  obtained. 
Upon  poli-      It  was  not  much  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  pope  did  readily  3(J 
Ld   g,,ant  this  ;  for  though  very  many,  both  cardinals  and  divines, 


sons. 


Herbert,  clicl  then  oppose  it,  yet  the  interest  of  the  papacy,  which  was 
preferred  to  all  other  considerations,  required  it.  For  as  that 
pope,  being  a  great  enemy  to  Louis  the  Twelfth,  the  French 
king,  would  have  done  any  thing  to  make  an  alliance  against 
him  firmer ;  so  he  was  a  warlike  pope,  who  considered  religion 
very  little,  and  therefore  might  be  easily  persuaded  to  confirm 
a  thing  that  must  needs  oblige  the  succeeding  kings  of  England 
to  maintain  the  papal  authority,  since  from  it  they  derived 
their  title  to  the  crown ;  little  thinking  that  by  a  secret  direc- 
tion of  an  overruling  Providence,  that  deed  of  his  would  oc- 
casion the  extirpation  of  the  papal  power  in  England.  So 
strangely  doth  God  make  the  devices  of  men  become  of  no 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1505.)  75 

effect,  and  turn  them  to  a  contrary  end  to  that  which  is  in- 
tended. 

Upon  this  bull  they  were  married,  the  prince  of  Wales  being  Henry 
yet  under  age.     But  Warham  had  so  possessed  the  king  with  against3 it 
an  aversion  to  this  marriage,  that,  on  the  same  day  that  the  June  27, 
prince  was  of  age,  he  by  his  father's  command,  laid  on  him  in 
the  presence  of  many  of  the  nobility  and  others,  made  a  pro-  Collect, 
testation  in  the  hands  of  Fox,  bishop  of  Winchester,  before  a  j^"111'^ 
public   notary,  and  read   it  himself,    by  which  he  declared,  [pp.  13, 14-] 
"  That  whereas   he,   being    under  age,    was  married  to   the 
"  princess  Catharine  ;  yet  now,  coming  to  be  of  age,  he  did 
"  not  confirm  that  marriage,  but  retracted  and  annulled  it, 
"  and  would  not  proceed  in  it,  but  intended  in  full  form  of  law 
"  to  void  it  and  break  it  off;  which  he  declared  he  did  freely 
"  and  of  his  own  accord'2." 

Thus  it  stood  during  his  father's  life,  who  continued  to  the  His  father 
last  to  be  against  it ;  and  when  he  was  just  dying,  he  charged  ™^Jf \t 
his  son  to  break  it  off,  though  it  is  possible  that  no  considera- 
tion of  religion  might  work  so  much  on  him,  as  the  apprehen- 
sion he  had  of  the  troubles  that  might  follow  on  a  controverted 
title  to  the  crown ;  of  which  the  wars  between  the  houses  of 
York  and  Lancaster  had  given  a  fresh  and  sad  demonstration. 
The  king  being  dead,  one  of  the  first  things  that  came  under  Apr.  22, 
consultation  was,  that  the  young  king  must  either  break  his  J|°9-  —."£ 
marriage  totally,  or  conclude  it.     Arguments  were  brought  on  dies. 
both  hands  ;  but  those  for  it  prevailed  most  with  the  king  :  so,  Henry,  be- 

.     ,  .     ing  come  to 

six  weeks  alter  he  came  to  the  crown,  he  was  married  again  the  crown, 
publicly,  and  soon  after  they  were   both  crowned.      On  the  marrIes 

r  J  <•  her,  J  une  3. 

first  day  of  the  year  she  made  him  a  very  acceptable  new  They  are 
year's  gift  of  a  son,  but  he  died  in  the  February  thereafter  :  crowned, 
she  miscarried  often,  and  another  son  died  soon  after  he  was  gon  born 
born  ;  only  the  lady  Mary  lived  to  a  perfect  age.  Jan.  1, 

In  this  state   was  the  king's  family  when  the  queen  left  Dieg  'rb 
bearing  more  children,  and  contracted  some  diseases  that  made  22. 
her  person  unacceptable  to  him  ;    but  was,  as  to  her  other  bom  and 
qualities,  a  virtuous  and  grave  princess,  much  esteemed  and  dies  Nov. 

2  [Morysinus(Ricardus)  Anglus.  scurra  procax,  Henrici  viii.  famam 

Apomaxis    calumniarum    convitio-  impetere,    nomen    obscurare,    &c. 

rumque  quibus  Jo.  Cocleus,  homo  studuit.  4to  Lond.  1537.] 
theologus  exiguus  artium  professor, 


76  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Lady  Mary  beloved  both  of  the  king  and  the  whole  nation.  The  king, 
19,  1516.  being  out  of  hopes  of  more  children,  declared  his  daughter 
Treaty-  princess  of  Wales,  and  sent  her  to  Ludlow  to  hold  her  court 
ioree  there,  and  projected  divers  matches  for  her.  The  first  was 
[Rymer,  with  the  dauphin,  which  was  agreed  to  between  the  king  of 
jr. ' ,  ,  France  and  him  the  ninth  of  November,  1518,  as  appears  by 
ter  Mary  the  treaty  yet  extant.  But  this  was  broken  afterwards  upon 
to'thedau-  the  king's  confederating  with  the  emperor  against  France,  and  37 
phin,  Oct.  a  new  match  agreed  and  sworn  to  between  the  emperor  and 
bert,  p.  78.]  the  king  at  Windsor  the  twenty-second  of  June,  1522,  the 
Afterwards  emperor  being  present  in  person.  This  being  afterwards 
perortjmie  neglected  and  broken  by  the  emperor,  by  the  advice  of  his 
22, 1522.  cortes  and  states,  as  was  formerly  related,  there  followed  some 
1 14,  1 19!]  overtures  of  a  marriage  with  Scotland.  But  those  also  vanished ; 
Offered  to  and  there  was  a  second  treaty  begun  with  France,  the  king 
Sept.  i<524.  offering  his  daughter  to  Francis  himself,  which  he  gladly  ac- 
[ibid.  p.  cepting,  a  match  was  treated :  and  on  the  last  of  April  it  was 
A^-ain  t  agreed,  that  the  lady  Mary  should  be  given  in  marriage  either 
France,  to  Francis  himself,  or  to  his  second  son  the  duke  of  Orleans ; 
1527.  [ibid.  ana<  that  alternative  was  to  be  determined  by  the  two  kings,  at 
P- 107-]  an  interview  that  was  to  be  between  them  soon  after  at  Calais, 
Francis  w^th  forfeitures  on  both  sides  if  the  match  went  not  on. 
himself,  or  But  while  this  was  in  agitation,  the  bishop  of  Tarbes,  the 
the  duke  of  French  ambassador,  made  a  great  demur  about  the  princess 
Orleans.  Mary's  being  illegitimate,  as  begotten  in  a  marriage  that  was 
marriage  contracted  against  a  divine  precept,  with  which  no  human  au- 
questioned  thority  could  dispense.     How  far  this  was  secretly  concerted 

by  foreign-  * 

ers.  between  the  French  court  and  ours,  or  between  the  cardinal 

and  the  ambassador,  is  not  known.  It  is  surmised  that  the 
king  or  the  cardinal  set  on  the  French  to  make  this  exception 
publicly,  that  so  the  king  might  have  a  better  colour  to  justify 
his  suit  of  divorce,  since  other  princes  were  already  questioning 
it.  For  if,  upon  a  marriage  proposed  of  such  infinite  advan- 
tage to  France,  as  that  would  be  with  the  heir  of  the  crown  of 
England,  they  nevertheless  made  exceptions,  and  proceeded 
but  coldly  in  it ;  it  was  very  reasonable  to  expect  that,  after 
the  king's  death,  other  pretenders  would  have  disputed  her 
title  in  another  manner. 

To  some  it  seemed   strange    that  the    kino-    did    offer    his 
daughter  to  such  great  princes  as  the  emperor  and  the  king  of 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  77 

France,  to  whom  if  England  had  fallen  in  her  right,  it  must 
have  been  a  province :  for  though,  in  the  last  treaty  with 
France,  she  was  offered  either  to  the  king,  or  his  second  son ; 
by  which  either  the  children  which  the  king  might  have  by 
her,  or  the  children  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  should  have  been 
heirs  to  the  crown  of  England,  and  thereby  it  would  still  have 
continued  divided  from  France ;  yet  this  was  full  of  hazard : 
for  if  the  duke  of  Orleans  by  his  brother's  death  should  become 
king  of  France,  as  it  afterwards  fell  out ;  or  if  the  king  of 
France  had  been  once  possessed  of  England,  then,  according 
to  the  maxim  of  the  French  government,  that  whatever  their 
king  acquires,  he  holds  it  in  the  right  of  his  crown,  England 
was  still  to  be  a  province  to  France,  unless  they  freed  them- 
selves by  arms.  Others  judged  that  the  king  intended  to 
marry  her  to  France,  the  more  effectually  to  seclude  her  from 
the  succession,  considering  the  aversion  his  subjects  had  to  a 
French  government,  that  so  he  might  more  easily  settle  his 
bastard  son,  the  duke  of  Richmond,  in  the  succession  of  the 
crown. 

While  this  treaty  went  on,  the  king's  scruples  about  his  The  king 
marriage  began  to  take  vent.     It  is  said  that  the  cardinal  did  scrupies  it. 
first  infuse  them  into  him,  and  made  Longland,  bishop  of  Lin-  Sanderus 
coin,  that  was  the  king's  confessor,  possess  the  king's  mind  An^HpTi 
with  them  in  confession^.     If  it  was  so,  the  king  had,  accord- 
38  ing  to  the  religion  of  that  time,  very  just  cause  of  scruple, 
when  his  confessor  judged  his  marriage  sinful,  and  the  pope's 
legate  was  of  the  same  mind.     It  is  also  said  that  the  cardinal, 
being  alienated  from  the  emperor,  that  he  might  irreparably 
embroil  the  king  and  him,  and  unite  the  king  to  the  French 
interests,  designed  this  out  of  spite ;  and  that  he  was  also  dis- 
satisfied toward  the  queen,  who  hated  him  for  his  lewd  and 
dissolute  life,  and  had  oft  admonished  and  checked  him  for  it : 

3  In  a  MS.  life  of  sir  Thomas  deed  he  did  not  break  the  matter 

More,  wrote  not  many  years  after  after  that  sort  as  is  said ;  but  the 

Longland's  death,  this  account  is  king  brake  the  matter  to  him  first 

given  :    I  have  heard  Dr.  Draycot,  and  never  left  urging  him,  until  he 

that  was  his  (Longland's)  chaplain  had  won  him  to  give  his  consent. — 

and  chancellor,  say,  that  he  once  Of  which  his   doings  he  did  sore 

told  the  bishop  what  rumour  ran,  forethink  himself  and  repented  after- 

and  desired  to  know  of  him  the  very  ward,  &c.  MS.  Coll.  Emman.  Cant, 

truth ;  who  answered,  that  in  very  [B.] 


78 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


In  his  letter 
to  Bucer, 
Sept.  10, 

IS3I-  in 

MSS.  R. 
Smith. 


The 

grounds 
of  his 
scruples. 


[Levit.  xx. 

21.] 


All  his  bi- 
shops, ex- 
ceptFisher 
declare  it 
unlawful. 
Caven- 
dish's Life 
of  Wolsey. 
[p.  428. 
ed.  Words- 
worth.] 


and  that  he  therefore,  designing  to  engage  the  king  to  marry 
the  French  king's  sister,  the  duchess  of  Alencon,  did  (to  make 
way  for  that)  set  this  matter  on  foot :  but  as  I  see  no  good 
authority  for  all  this,  except  the  queen's  suspicions,  who  did 
afterwards  charge  the  cardinal  as  the  cause  of  all  her  trouble ; 
so  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  king's  scruples  were  much 
ancienter ;  for  the  king  declared  to  Simon  Grineus,  four  years 
after  this,  that  for  seven  years  he  had  abstained  from  the 
queen  upon  these  scruples,  so  that  by  that  it  seems  they  had 
been  received  into  the  king's  mind  three  years  before  this 
time. 

What  were  the  king's  secret  motives,  and  the  true  grounds 
of  his  aversion  to  the  queen,  is  only  known  to  God ;  and  till 
the  discovery  of  all  secrets  at  the  day  of  judgment,  must  lie 
hid.  But  the  reasons  which  he  always  owned,  of  which  all 
human  judicatories  must  only  take  notice,  shall  be  now  fully 
opened.  He  found  by  the  law  of  Moses,  if  a  man  took  his 
brother's  ivife,  they  should  die  childless.  This  made  him 
reflect  on  the  death  of  his  children,  which  he  now  looked  on 
as  a  curse  from  God  for  that  unlawful  marriage.  Upon  this 
he  set  himself  to  study  the  case,  and  called  for  the  judgments 
of  the  best  divines  and  canonists.  For  his  own  inquiry,  Thomas 
Aquinas  being  the  writer  in  whose  works  he  took  most  plea- 
sure, and  to  whose  judgment  he  submitted  most,  did  decide  it 
clearly  against  him.  For  he  both  concluded,  that  the  laws  in 
Leviticus  about  the  forbidden  degrees  of  marriage  were  moral 
and  eternal,  such  as  obliged  all  Christians ;  and  that  the  pope 
could  only  dispense  with  the  laws  of  the  church,  but  could  not 
dispense  with  the  laws  of  God ;  upon  this  reason,  that  no  law 
can  be  dispensed  with  by  any  authority  but  that  which  is  equal 
to  the  authority  that  enacted  it.  Therefore  he  infers,  that 
the  pope  can  indeed  dispense  with  all  the  laws  of  the  church, 
but  not  with  the  laws  of  God,  to  whose  authority  he  could  not 
pretend  to  be  equal.  But  as  the  king  found  this  from  his  own 
private  study  ;  so  having  commanded  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury to  require  the  opinions  of  the  bishops  of  England,  they 
all,  in  a  writing  under  their  hands  and  seals,  declared  they 
judged  it  an  unlawful  marriage.  Only  the  bishop  of  Rochester 
refused  to  set  his  hand  to  it ;  and,  though  the  archbishop 
pressed  him  most  earnestly  to  it,  yet  he  persisted  in  his  re- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  79 

fusal,  saying,  that  it  was  against  his  conscience.  Upon  which 
the  archbishop  made  another  write  down  his  name,  and  set  his 
seal  to  the  resolution  of  the  rest  of  the  bishops.  But  this  being 
afterwards  questioned,  the  bishop  of  Rochester  denied  it  was 
his  hand,  and  the  archbishop  pretended  that  he  had  leave 
given  him  by  the  bishop  to  put  his  hand  to  it ;  which  the  other 
denied.  Nor  was  it  likely  that  Fisher,  who  scrupled  in  con- 
science to  subscribe  it  himself,  would  have  consented  to  such  a 
weak  artifice.  But  all  the  other  bishops  did  declare  against 
39  the  marriage ;  and  as  the  king  himself  said  afterwards  in  the 
legatine  court,  neither  the  cardinal  nor  the  bishop  of  Lincoln 
did  first  suggest  these  scruples ;  but  the  king,  being  possessed 
with  them,  did  in  confession  propose  them  to  that  bishop  ;  and 
added,  that  the  cardinal  was  so  far  from  cherishing  them,  that 
he  did  all  he  could  to  stifle  them. 

The  king  was  now  convinced  that  his  marriage  was  unlaw-  The  dan- 
ful,  both  by  his  own  study,  and  the  resolution  of  his  divines.  ^™e  y±e 
And  as  the  point  of  conscience  wrought  on  him,  so  the  interest to  follow 
of  the  kingdom  required,  that  there  should  be  no  doubting 
about  the  succession  to  the  crown  :  lest,  as  the  long  civil  war 
between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster  had  been  buried 
with  his  father,  so  a  new  one  should  rise  up  at  his  death.  The 
king  of  Scotland  was  the  next  heir  to  the  crown  after  his 
daughter.  And  if  he  married  his  daughter  to  any  out  of 
France,  then  he  had  reason  to  judge,  that  the  French,  upon 
their  ancient  alliance  with  Scotland,  and  that  they  might  divide 
and  distract  England,  would  be  ready  to  assist  the  king  of 
Scotland  in  his  pretensions :  or  if  he  married  her  in  France, 
then  all  those  in  England  to  whom  the  French  government 
was  hateful,  and  the  emperor,  and  other  princes,  to  whom  the 
French  power  grew  formidable,  would  have  been  as  ready  to 
support  the  pretensions  of  Scotland  :  or  if  he  should  either  set 
up  his  bastard  son,  or  the  children  which  his  sister  bore  to 
Charles  Brandon,  there  was  still  cause  to  fear  a  bloody  deci- 
sion of  a  title  that  was  so  doubtful.  And  though  this  may 
seem  a  consideration  too  politic  and  foreign  to  a  matter  of  that 
nature,  yet  the  obligation  that  lies  on  a  prince  to  provide  for 
the  happiness  and  quiet  of  his  subjects,  was  so  weighty  a  thing, 
that  it  might  well  come  in,  among  other  motives,  to  incline  the 
king  much  to  have  this  matter  determined.     At  this  time  the 


80  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Wolsey       cardinal  went  over  into  France,  under  colour  to  conclude  a 
France,      league  between  the  two  crowns,  and  to  treat  about  the  means 
J«ly  Hi      of  setting  the  pope  at  liberty,  who  was  then  the  emperor's 
[Herbert,    prisoner  at  Rome ;   and  also  for  a  project  of  peace  between 
p.  205.]       Francis  and  the  emperor.     But  his  chief  business  was  to  re- 
quire Francis  to  declare  his  resolutions  concerning  that  alter- 
native about  the  lady  Mary.     To  which  it  was  answered,  that 
the  duke  of  Orleans,  as  a  fitter  match  in  years,  was  the  French 
king's  choice ;    but  this  matter  fell  to  the  ground  upon  the 
process  that  followed  soon  after. 
The  king's       The  king  did  much  apprehend  the  opposition  the  emperor 
hopes         was  like  to  make  to  his  designs,  either  out  of  a  principle  of 
about  it.      nature  and  honour  to  protect  his  aunt,  or  out  of  a  maxim  of 
state,  to  raise  his  enemy  all  the  trouble  he  could  at  home. 
But  on  the  other  hand  he  had  some  cause  to  hope  well  even  in 
that  particular.     For  the  question  of  the  unlawfulness  of  the 
match  had  been  first  debated  in  the  cortes,  or  assembly  of  the 
states,  at  Madrid ;  and  the  emperor  had  then  shewed  himself 
so  favourable  to  it,  that  he  broke  the  match  (to  which  he  had 
bound  himself)  with  the  princess.     Therefore  the  king  had 
reason  to  think  that  this  at  least  would  mitigate  his  opposition. 
The  emperor  had  also  used  the  pope  so  hardly,  that  it  could 
not  be  doubted  that  the  pope  hated  him.     And  it  was  believed 
that  he  would  find  the  protection  of  the  king  of  England  most 
necessary  to  secure  him  either  from  the  greatness  of  France  or 
Spain,  who  were  fighting  for  the  best  part  of  Italy,  which 
must  needs  fall  into  one  of  their  hands.     Therefore  the  king 
did  not  doubt  but  the  pope  would  be  compliant  to  his  desires. 
And  in  this  he  was  much  confirmed  by  the  hopes,  or  rather  40 
assurance,  which  the  cardinal  gave  him  of  the  pope's  favour ; 
who,  either  calculating  what  was  to  be  expected  from  that 
court  on  the  account  of  their  own  interest,  or  upon  some  pro- 
mises made  him,  had  undertaken  to  the  king  to  bring  that 
Lord  Her-  matter  about  to  his  heart's  content.     It  is  certain  that  the 
207 1  cardinal  had  carried  over  with  him  out  of  the  king's  treasure 

two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  pounds  to  be  employed  about 
the  pope's  liberty.  But  whether  he  had  made  a  bargain  for 
the  divorce,  or  had  fancied  that  nothing  could  be  denied  him 
at  Rome,  it  does  not  appear.  It  is  clear  by  many  of  his  letters, 
that  he  had  undertaken  to  the  king,  that  the  business  should 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  81 

be  done ;  and  it  is  not  like  that  a  man  of  his  wisdom  would 
have  adventured  to  do  that  without  some  good  warrant. 

But  now  that  the  suit  was  to  be  moved  in  the  court  of  Rome,  The  argu- 
tliey  were  to  devise  such  arguments  as  were  like  to  be  well  aoainst  the 
heard  there.  It  would  have  been  unacceptable  to  have  insisted  bul1- 
on  the  nullity  of  the  bull  on  this  account,  because  the  matter  of 
it  was  unlawful,  and  fell  not  within  the  pope's  power :  for 
popes,  like  other  princes,  do  not  love  to  hear  the  extent  of 
their  prerogative  disputed  or  defined.  And  to  condemn  the 
bull  of  a  former  pope  as  unlawful,  was  a  dangerous  precedent 
at  a  time  when  the  pope's  authority  was  rejected  by  so  many 
in  Germany.  Therefore  the  canonists,  as  well  as  divines,  were 
consulted  to  find  such  nullities  in  the  bull  of  dispensation,  as, 
according  to  the  canon  law,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  Rota, 
might  serve  to  invalidate  it  without  any  diminution  of  the 
papal  power.  Which  being  once  done,  the  marriage  that 
followed  upon  it  must  needs  be  annulled.  When  the  canonists 
examined  the  bull,  they  found  much  matter  to  proceed  upon. 
It  is  a  maxim  in  law,  That  if  the  pope  bo  surprised  in  any 
thing,  and  bulls  be  procured  upon  false  suggestions  and  untrue 
premises,  they  may  be  annulled  afterwards.  Upon  which 
foundation  most  of  all  the  processes  against  popes'  bulls  were 
grounded.  Now  they  found  by  the  preamble  of  this  bull  that 
it  was  said,  The  king  had  desired  that  he  might  be  dispensed 
with  to  marry  the  princess.  This  was  false  ;  for  the  king  had 
made  no  such  desire,  being  of  an  age  that  was  below  such  con- 
siderations, but  twelve  years  old.  Then  it  appeared  by  the 
preamble  that  this  bull  was  desired  by  the  king  to  preserve  the 
peace  between  the  king  of  England,  and  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  (called  Elizabetha  in  the  bull,)  the  kings  of  Spain. 
To  which  they  excepted,  That  it  was  plain  this  was  false,  since 
the  king,  being  then  but  twelve  years  old,  could  not  be  sup- 
posed to  have  such  deep  speculations,  and  so  large  a  prospect, 
as  to  desire  a  match  upon  a  politic  account.  Then  it  being 
also  in  the  bull,  that  the  pope's  dispensation  was  granted  to 
keep  peace  between  the  crowns  ;  if  there  was  no  hazard  of  any 
breach  or  war  between  them,  this  was  a  false  suggestion,  by 
which  the  pope  had  been  made  believe,  that  this  match  was 
necessary  for  averting  some  great  mischief;  and  it  was  known 
that  there  was  no  danger  at  all  of  that :    and  so  this  bull  was 

BURNET,  PART  I.  G 


82 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[part  I. 


Wolsey's 
advice  to 
the  king, 
August  1, 

I527- 
[  Herbert, 
p.  207.] 


Sanders' 
story  [p.  13] 
about  Anne 
Boleyn  ex- 
amined. 


For  this  he 
cites  Ras- 
tall'sLifeof 
sir  Thomas 
More,  a 
book  that 
was  never 
seen  by  any 
body  else. 


obtained  by  a  surprise.  Besides,  both  king  Henry  of  England, 
and  Isabella  of  Spain,  were  dead  before  the  king  married  his 
queen  ;  so  the  marriage  could  not  be  valid  by  virtue  of  a  bull 
that  was  granted  to  maintain  amity  between  princes  that  were 
dead  before  the  marriage  was  consummated  :  and  they  also 
judged  that  the  protestation,  which  the  king  made  when  he 
came  of  age,  did  retract  any  such  pretended  desire,  that  might 
have  been  preferred  to  the  pope  in  his  name  ;  and  that,  from  41 
that  time  forward,  the  bull  could  have  no  further  operation, 
since  the  ground  upon  which  it  was  granted,  which  was  the 
king's  desire,  did  then  cease,  any  pretended  desire  before  he 
was  of  age  being  clearly  annulled  and  determined  by  that 
protestation  after  he  was  of  age  ;  so  that  a  subsequent  marriage, 
founded  upon  the  bull,  must  needs  be  void. 

These  were  the  grounds  upon  which  the  canonists  advised 
the  process  at  Rome  to  be  carried  on.  But  first,  to  amuse  or 
overreach  the  Spaniard,  the  king  sent  word  to  his  ambassador 
in  Spain  to  silence  the  noise  that  was  made  about  it  in  that 
court.  Whether  the  king  had  then  resolved  on  the  person 
that  should  succeed  the  queen,  when  he  had  obtained  what  he 
desired,  or  not,  is  much  questioned.  Some  suggest,  that  from 
the  beginning  he  was  taken  with  the  charms  of  Anne  Boleyn, 
and  that  all  this  process  was  moved  by  the  unseen  spring  of 
that  secret  affection.  Others  will  have  this  amour  to  have 
been  later  in  the  king's  thoughts.  How  early  it  came  there, 
at  this  distance  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  But  before  I  say 
more  of  it,  she  being  so  considerable  a  person  in  the  following 
relation,  I  shall  give  some  account  of  her.  Sanders  has  assured 
the  world,  "  That  the  king  had  a  liking  to  her  mother,  who 
u  was  daughter  to  the  duke  of  Norfolk ;  and  to  the  end  that 
"  he  might  enjoy  her  with  the  less  disturbance,  he  sent  her 
"  husband,  sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  to  be  ambassador  in  France : 
"  and  that,  after  two  years'  absence,  his  wife  being  with  child, 
"  he  came  over,  and  sued  a  divorce  against  her  in  the  arch- 
"  bishop  of  Canterbury's  court;  but  the  king  sent  the  marquis 
"  of  Dorset  to  let  him  know,  that  she  was  with  child  by  him, 
"  and  that  therefore  the  king  desired  he  would  pass  the  matter 
"  over,  and  be  reconciled  to  his  wife :  to  which  he  consented. 
"  And  so  Anne  Boleyn,  though  she  went  under  the  name  of 
"  his  daughter,  yet   was   of  the   king's   begetting."     As   he 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  83 

describes  her,  "  she  was  ill-shaped  and  ugly,  had  six  fingers,  a 
"  gag  tooth,  and  a  tumour  under  her  chin,  with  many  other 
"  unseemly  things  in  her  person.  At  the  fifteenth  year  of  her  [Ibid. 
"  age,"  he  says,  "both  her  father's  butler  and  chaplain  laypIS'-' 
"  with  her  :  afterwards  she  was  sent  to  France,  where  she  was 
"  at  first  kept  privately  in  the  house  of  a  person  of  quality ; 
"  then  she  went  to  the  French  court,  where  she  led  such 
"  a  dissolute  life,  that  she  was  called  the  English  Hackney. 
"  That  the  French  king  liked  her,  and,  from  the  freedoms  he 
"  took  with  her,  she  was  called  the  King's  Mule.  But  return- 
"  ing  to  England,  she  was  admitted  to  the  court,  where  she 
"  quickly  perceived  how  weary  the  king  was  of  the  queen,  and 
"  what  the  cardinal  was  designing  ;  and  having  gained  the 
"  king's  affection,  she  governed  it  so,  that  by  all  innocent 
"  freedoms  she  drew  him  into  her  toils,  and  by  the  appearances 
"  of  a  severe  virtue,  with  which  she  disguised  herself,  so  in- 
"  creased  his  affection  and  esteem,  that  he  resolved  to  put  her 
"  in  his  queen's  place,  as  soon  as  the  divorce  was  (/ranted.'" 
The  same  author  adds,  That  the  king  had  likewise  enjoyed 
her  sister,  with  a  great  deal  more,  to  the  disgrace  of  this  lady 
and  her  family. 

I  know  it  is  not  the  work  of  an  historian  to  refute  the  lies  of 
others,  but  rather  to  deliver  such  a  plain  account  as  will  be  a 
more  effectual  confutation  than  any  thing  can  be  that  is  said 
by  way  of  argument,  which  belongs  to  other  writers.  And  at 
the  end  of  this  king's  reign,  I  intend  to  set  down  a  collection 
42  of  the  most  notorious  falsehoods  of  that  writer,  together  with 
the  evidences  of  their  being  so.  But  all  this  of  Anne  Boleyn 
is  so  palpable  a  lie,  or  rather  a  complicated  heap  of  lies,  and  so 
much  depends  on  it,  that  I  presume  it  will  not  offend  the 
reader  to  be  detained  a  few  minutes  in  the  refutation  of  it. 
For  if  it  were  true,  very  much  might  he  drawn  from  it,  both  to 
disparage  king  Henry,  who  pretended  conscience  to  annul  his 
marriage  for  the  nearness  of  affinity,  and  yet  would  after  that 
marry  his  own  daughter.  It  leaves  also  a  foul  and  lasting 
stain  both  on  the  memory  of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  of  her  incom- 
parable daughter  queen  Elizabeth.  It  also  derogates  so  much 
from  the  first  reformers,  who  had  some  kind  of  dependence  on 
queen  Anne  Boleyn,  that  it  seems  to  be  of  great  importance, 
for  directing   the  reader  in  the  judgment  he  is  to  make  of 

g  2 


84  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

persons  and  things,  to  lay  open  the  falsehood  of  this  account. 
It  were  sufficient  for  blasting  it,  that  there  is  no  proof  pre- 
tended to  be  brought  for  any  part  of  it,  but  a  book  of  one 
Rastall,  a  judge,  that  was  never  seen  by  any  other  person  than 
that  writer.  The  title  of  the  book  is,  The  Life  of  Sir  Thomas 
More.  There  is  great  reason  to  think  that  Rastall4  never 
writ  any  such  book  ;  for  it  is  most  common  for  the  lives  of 
great  authors  to  be  prefixed  to  their  works.  Now  this  Rastall 
published  all  More's  works  in  queen  Mary's  reign,  to  which,  if 
he  had  written  his  life,  it  is  likely  he  would  have  prefixed  it. 
No  evidence  therefore  being  given  for  his  relation,  either  from 
record,  letters,  or  the  testimony  of  any  person  who  was  privy 
to  the  matter,  the  whole  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  black 
forgery,  devised  on  purpose  to  defame  queen  Elizabeth.  For, 
upon  her  mother's  death,  who  can  doubt  but  that  some,  either 
to  flatter  the  king,  or  to  defame  her,  would  have  published 
these  things,  which,  if  they  had  been  true,  could  be  no  secrets  ? 
For  a  lady  of  her  mother's  condition  to  bear  a  child  two  years 
after  her  husband  was  sent  out  of  England  on  such  a  public 
employment,  and  a  process  thereupon  to  be  entered  in  the 
archbishop's  courts,  are  things  that  are  not  so  soon  to  be 
forgotten.  And  that  she  herself  was  under  so  ill  a  reputation, 
both  in  her  father's  family,  and  in  France,  for  common  lewd- 
ness, and  for  being  the  king's  concubine,  are  things  that  could 
Anti-San-  not  lie  hid.  And  yet,  when  the  books  of  the  archbishop's 
r  jg-i  courts  (which  are  now  burnt)  were  extant,  it  was  published  to 
the  world,  and  satisfaction  offered  to  every  one  that  would 
take  the  pains  to  inform  themselves,  that  there  was  no  such 
thing  on  record.  Nor  did  any  of  the  writers  of  that  time, 
either  of  the  imperial  or  papal  side,  once  mention  these  things, 
notwithstanding  their  great  occasion  to  do  it.  But  eighty 
years  after,  this  fable  was  invented,  or  at  least  it  was  then  first 
published,  when  it  was  safer  to  lie,  because  none  who  had 
lived  in  the  time  could  disprove  it. 

But  it  has  not  only  no  foundation,  but  Sanders,  through  the 
vulgar  errors  of  liars,  has  strained  his  wit  to  make  so  ill  a 

4  I  do  not  think  the  hook  was  of  sir  Thomas  More's  Life,  written  by 

great  authority ;    but  he  wrote  such  Mr.  Justice  Rastall,  which  may  be 

a  book  undoubtedly.     I  have  seen  produced,    wrote    near   that    time. 

'  Certen  breef  notes  appertaining  to  [B.] 
bishope  Fyshere ; '   collected  out  of 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  85 

story  of  the  lady,  that  some  things  in  his  own  relation  make  it 
plainly  appear  to  be  impossible.  For,  to  pass  by  those  many 
improbable  tilings  that  he  relates,  as  namely,  That  both  the 
king  of  England  and  the  French  king  could  be  so  taken  with 
so  ugly  and  monstrous  a  woman,  of  so  notorious  and  lewd 
manners ;  and  that  this  king,  for  the  space  of  seven  years,  that 
is,  during  the  suit  of  the  divorce,  should  continue  enamoured 
of  her,  and  never  discover  this,  or  having  discovered  it,  should 
yet  resolve  at  all  hazards  to  make  her  his  wife ;  which  are 
things  that  would  require  no  common  testimony  to  make  them 
43  seem  credible  :  there  is  beside,  in  that  story,  an  heap  of  things 
so  inconsistent  with  one  another,  that  none  but  such  an  one  as 
Sanders  could  have  had  either  blindness  or  brow  enough  to 
have  made  or  published  it.  For  first,  if  the  king,  that  he 
might  the  more  freely  enjoy  sir  Thomas  Boleyn's  lady,  sent 
him  over  into  France,  as  Sanders  says,  I  shall  allow  it  as  soon 
as  may  be,  that  it  was  in  the  very  beginning  of  his  reign,  1509. 
Then  the  time  when  Anne  Boleyn  was  born,  being,  according 
to  Sanders'  account,  two  years  after,  that  must  be  anno  1511 ; 
and  being,  as  he  says,  defloured  when  she  was  fifteen,  that 
must  be  anno  1526.  Then  some  time  must  be  allowed  for  her 
going  to  France,  for  her  living  privately  there  for  some  time, 
and  afterwards  for  her  coming  to  court,  and  meriting  those 
characters  that  he  says  went  upon  her ;  and,  after  all  that,  for 
her  return  into  England,  and  insinuating  herself  into  the 
king's  favour :  yet,  by  Sanders'  own  relation,  these  things 
must  have  happened  in  the  same  year  1526;  for  in  that  year 
he  makes  the  king  think  of  putting  away  his  wife,  in  order  to 
marry  Anne  Boleyn,  when,  according  to  his  account,  she  could 
be  but  fifteen  years  old,  though  this  king  had  sent  sir  Thomas 
Boleyn  into  France  the  first  day  of  his  coming  to  the  crown. 
But  that  he  was  not  sent  so  early,  appears  by  several  grants 
that  I  have  seen  in  the  rolls,  which  were  made  to  him  in  the 
first  four  years  of  the  king's  reign  :  they  sufficiently  shew  that 
he  was  all  that  while  about  the  king's  person,  and  mention  no 
services  beyond  sea,  but  about  the  king's  person,  as  the  ground 
upon  which  they  wore  made.  Besides.  I  find  in  the  treaty- 
rolls  no  mention  of  his  being  ambassador  the  first  eight  years 
of  the  king's  reign.  In  the  first  year,  the  bishops  of  Win-  March  23, 
Chester  and  Durham,  and  the  earl  of  Surrey,  are  named  in  the  n!'°jer 

xiii.  p.  270.] 


86  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

treaty  between  the  two  crowns,  as  the  king's  ambassadors  in 

Franco.     After  this,  none  could  be  ambassadors  there  for  two 

years  together  ;    for  before  two  years  elapsed  there  was  a  war 

[Augusts,]  proclaimed  against  France;  and,  when  overtures  were  made 

p.  4  $6.]       f°r  a  peace,  it  appears  by  the  treaty  rolls,  that  the  earl  of 

Feb.  12,      Worcester  was  sent  over  ambassador.     And  when  the  king's 
151 1.  .  °. 

sister  was  sent  over  to   Louis  the  French  kino-,   though   sir 

Sept.  23.     Thomas  Boleyn  went  over  with  her,  he  was  not  then  so  much 
[Rymer       considered  as  to  be  made  an  ambassador.     For  in  the  commis- 
xni.j).  ,49.]  gjon  ^jia£  wag  given  t0  many  persons  of  quality,  to  deliver  her 
to  her  husband,  king  Louis  XII.,  sir  Thomas  Boleyn  is  not 
named.     The  persons  in  the  commission  are  the  duke  of  Nor- 
folk, the  marquis  of  Dorset,  the  bishop  of  Durham,  the  earls 
of  Surrey  and  Worcester,  the  prior  of  St.  John's  and  doctor 
1515-      West,    dean    of  Windsor.     A   year    after   that,    sir    Thomas 
Boleyn  was  made  ambassador ;    but  then  it  was  too  late  for 
Anne   Boleyn    to   be  yet  unborn,   much  less  could  it   be,  as 
Sanders  says,  that  she  was  born  two  years  after  it. 
Camd.  in         But  the  learned  Camden  %  whose  study  and  profession  led 
ad  Hist.      n'm  ^°  a  more  particular  knowledge  of  these  things,  gives  us 

Ehz.  rog.    another  account  of  her  birth.     He  says,  that  she  was  born  in 
[p.  2.]  .  I  . 

the  year  150T,  which  was  two  years  before  the  king  came  to 

the  crown.  And  if  it  be  suggested,  that  then  the  prince,  to 
enjoy  her  mother,  prevailed  with  his  father  to  send  her  husband 
beyond  sea,  that  must  be  done  when  the  prince  himself  was  not 
fourteen  years  of  age :  so  they  must  make  him  to  have  cor- 
rupted other  men's  wives  at  that  age,  when  yet  they  will  not 
allow  his  brother  (no,  not  when  he  was  two  years  older)  to 
have  known  his  own  wife. 
Her  birth,  But  now  I  leave  this  foul  fiction,  and  go  to  deliver  certain  44 
truths.  Anne  Boleyn's  mother  was  daughter  to  the  duke  of 
Norfolk,  and  sister  to  the  duke  that  was  at  the  time  of  the 
divorce  lord  treasurer.  Her  father's  mother  was  one  of  the 
daughters  and  heirs  to  the  earl  of  Wiltshire  and  Ormond ;  and 
her  great  grandfather,  sir  Geoffry  Boleyn,  who  had  been  lord 
mayor  of  London,  married  one  of  the  daughters  and  heirs  of 
the  lord  Hastings  ;  and  their  family,  as  they  had  mixed  with 
so  much  great  blood,  so  had  married  their  daughters  to  very 

5  [Camden  (Guilielmus).  Annales     regnante     Elizabetha,    fol.     Lond. 
rcrum  Anglicarum  ct  Hibernicarum      1615.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  87 

noble  families.     She,  being  but  seven  years  old,  was  carried      15 14. 
over  to  France  with  the  king's  sister ;  which  shews  she  could 
have  none  of  those  deformities  in  her  person,  since  such  are 
not  brought  into  the   courts   and  families  of  queens.      And  and  breed- 
though,   upon  the  French  king's  death,  the  queen  dowager-   g' 
came  soon  back  to  England,  yet  she  was  so  liked  in  the  French 
court,  that  the  next  king  Francis'  queen  kept  her  about  herself 
for  some  years ;    and  after  her  death,  the  king's  sister,  the 
duchess  of  Alencon,  kept  her  in  her  court  all  the  while  she 
was  in  France  :  which  as  it  shews  there  was  somewhat  extra- 
ordinary in  her  person,  so,  those  princesses  being  much  cele- 
brated for  their  virtues,  it  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  any 
person,  so  notoriously  defamed  as  Sanders  would  represent 
her,  was  entertained  in  their  courts. 

When  she  came  into  England  is  not  so  clear :  it  is  said,  that  Her  coming 
in  the  year  1522,  when  war  was  made  on  France,  her  father,  Lord  Her-' 

who  was  then  ambassador,  was  recalled,  and  brought  her  over  bert>  [pp- 

112, 285. 
with  him,  which  is  not  improbable  :  but,  if  she  came  then,  she  quoting] 

did  not  stay  long  in  England,  for  Camden  says,  that  she  served  Du  Tillet 
queen  Claudia  of  France  till  her  death,  (which  was  in  July,  pleix. 
1524;)    and  after  that  she  was  taken  into  service  by  king  r*T?fo  ■? 
Francis1  sister.     How  long  she  continued  in  that  service,  I  do  says  she 
not  find ;  but  it  is  probable  that  she  returned  out  of  France  Joung!7 
with  her  father  from  his  embassy,  in  the  year  1527 ;  when,  as  Camden. 
Stow  says,  he  brought  with  him  the  picture  of  her  mistress, 
who  was  offered  in  marriage  to  this  kino*.     If  she  came  out  of 
France  before,  as  those  authors  before  mentioned  say,  it  appears 
that  the  king  had  no  design  upon  her  then,  because  he  suffered 
her  to  return,  and  when  one  mistress  died,  to  take  another  in 
France ;  but  if  she  stayed  there  all  this  while,  then  it  is  pro- 
bable he  had  not  seen  her  till  now  at  last,  when  she  came  out 
of  the  princess  of  Alencon's  service  :   but  whensoever  it  was 
that  she  came  to  the  court  of  England,  it  is  certain  that  she 
was  much  considered  in  it.     And  though  the  queen,  who  had 
taken  her  to  be  one  of  her  maids  of  honour,  had  afterwards 
just  cause  to  be  displeased  with  her  as  her  rival;  yet  she 
carried  herself  so,  that,  in  the  whole  progress  of  the  suit,  I 
never  find  the  queen  herself,  or  any  of  her  agents,  fix  the  least 
ill  character  on  her ;  which  would  most  certainly  have  been 
done,  had  there  been  any  just  cause  or  good  colour  for  it. 

And  so  far  was  this  lady,  at  least  for  some  time,  from  any  she  is  con- 


88 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


tracteil  to 
the  lord 
Percy. 


Cavendish's 
Life  of 
Wolsey. 


thoughts  of  marrying  the  king,  that  she  had  consented  to 
marry  the  lord  Percy,  the  earl  of  Northumberland's  eldest 
son,  whom  his  father,  by  a  strange  compliance  with  the  car- 
dinal's vanity,  had  placed  in  his  court,  and  made  him  one  of 
his  servants5.  The  thing  is  considerable,  and  clears  many 
things  that  belong  to  this  history ;  and  the  relator  of  it  was  an 
car-witness  of  the  discourse  upon  it,  as  himself  informs  us. 
The  cardinal,  hearing  that  the  lord  Percy  was  making  ad-  45 
dresses  to  Anne  Boleyn,  one  day  as  he  came  from  the  court 
called  for  him  before  his  servants,  (before  us  all,  says  the  re- 
lator, including  himself,)  "  and  chid  him  for  it,  pretending  at 
'  first  that  it  was  unworthy  of  him  to  match  so  meanly ;  but 
'  he  justified  his  choice,  and  reckoned  up  her  birth  and  quality, 
(  which  he  said  was  not  inferior  to  his  own.  And  the  cardinal 
'  insisting  fiercely  to  make  him  lay  down  his  pretensions,  he 
'  told  him,  ho  would  willingly  submit  to  the  king  and  him  ; 
'  but,  that  he  had  gone  so  far  before  many  witnesses,  that  he 
4  could  not  forsake  it,  and  knew  not  how  to  discharge  his 
'  conscience  ;  and  therefore  he  entreated  the  cardinal  would 
'  procure  him  the  king's  favour  in  it.  Upon  that  the  cardinal 
'  in  great  rage  said,  Why,  thinkest  thou  that  the  king  and  I 
'  know  not  what  we  have  to  do  in  so  weighty  a  matter?  Yes, 
'  I  warrant  you  :  but  I  can  see  in  thee  no  submission  at  all  to 
'  the  purpose ;  and  said,  You  have  matched  yourself  with  such 
'  an  one,  as  neither  the  king,  nor  yet  your  father,  will  agree 
'  to  it;  and  therefore  I  will  send  for  thy  father,  who  at  his 
'  coming  shall  either  make  thee  break  this  unadvised  bargain, 
'  or  disinherit  thee  for  ever.  To  which  the  lord  Percy  replied, 
'  That  he  would  submit  himself  to  him,  if  his  conscience  were 
'  discharged  of  the  weighty  burden  that  lay  upon  it :  and 
'  soon  after,  his  father  coming  to  court,  he  was  diverted 
'  another  way." 

Had  that  writer  told  us  in  what  year  this  was  done,  it  had 
given  a  great  light  to  direct  us  ;  but  by  this  relation  we  see 
that  she  was  so  far  from  thinking  of  the  king  at  that  time,  that 
she  had  engaged  herself  another  way  :  but  how  far  this  went 
on  her  side,  or  whether  it  was  afterwards  made  use  of,  when 
she  was  divorced  from  the  king,  shall  be  considered  in  its 
proper  place.     It  also  appears,  that  there  was  a  design  about 

5  The  lord  Percy  was  in  the  cardinal's  family  rather  in  a  way  of  educa- 
tion, not  unusual  in  those  times,  than  of  service.  [F.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  89 

her  then  formed  between  the  king  and  the  cardinal  ;  yet  how 

far  that  went,  whether  to  make  her  queen,  or  only  to  corrupt 

her,  is  not  evident.     It  is  said,  that  upon  this  she  ever  after  Lord  Her- 

hated  the   cardinal,  and  that  he  never  designed  the  divorce    tr}\  &' 

286.] 

after  he  saw  on  whom  the  king  had  fixed  his  thoughts :  but  all 
that  is  a  mistake,  as  will  afterwards  appear. 

And  now,  having  made  wav  through  these  things  that  were 
previous  to  the  first  motion  of  the  divorce,  my  narration  leads      1527. 
me  next  to  the  motion  itself.     The  king,  resolving  to  put  the 
matter  home  to   the  pope,  sent  doctor   Knight,  secretary  of  The  king 
state,  to  Rome,  with  some  instructions  to  prepare  the  pope  for  hi°  ^ivor 
it,  and  to  observe  what  might  be  the  best  method,  and  who  at  Rome, 
the  fittest  tools  to  work  by.     At  that  time  the  family  of  the 
Cassali,  being  three  brothers,  were  entertained  by  the  king  as 
his  agents  in  Italy,  both  in  Rome,  Venice,  and  other  places. 
Sir   Gregory   Cassali    was    then  his    ordinary  ambassador  at 
Rome  :  to  him  was  the  first  full  despatch  about  this  business 
directed  by  the  cardinal,  the  original  whereof  is  yet  extant, 
dated  the  fifth  of  December,  1527,  which  the  reader  will  find 
in  the  Collection :  but  here  I  shall  give  the  heads  of  it. 

"After  great  and  high  compliments,  and  assurances  of  The  first 
"  rewards,  to  engage  him  to  follow  the  business  very  vigorously  a^t  it 
"  and  with  great  diligence,  he  writes,  that  he  had  before  opened  Collect. 
"  the  king's  case  to  him ;  and  that,  partly  by  his  own  study, 
"  partly  by  the  opinion  of  many  divines  and  other  learned 
46  "  men  of  all  sorts,  he  found  that  he  could  no  longer,  with  a 
"  good  conscience,  continue  in  that  marriage  with  the  queen, 
"  having  God,  and  the  quiet  and  salvation  of  his  soul,  chiefly 
"  before  his  eyes  ;  and  that  he  had  consulted  both  the  most 
"  learned  divines  and  canonists,  as  well  in  his  own  dominions 
"  as  elsewhere,  to  know  whether  the  pope's  dispensation  could 
"  make  it  good  ;  and  that  many  of  them  thought  the  pope 
"  could  not  dispense  in  this  case  of  the  first  degree  of  affinity, 
"  which  they  esteemed  forbidden  by  a  divine,  moral,  and 
"  natural  law ;  and  all  the  rest  concluded,  that  the  pope  could 
"  not  do  it,  but  upon  very  weighty  reasons,  and  they  found 
"  not  any  such  in  the  bull.  Then  he  lays  out  the  reasons  for 
"  annulling  the  bull,  which  were  touched  before  ;  upon  which 
"  they  all  concluded  the  dispensation  to  be  of  no  force  ;  that 
"  the  king  looked  on  the  death  of  his  sons  as  a  curse  from  God  ; 


90  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  and,  to  avoid  further  judgments,  he  now  desired  help  of  the 
"  apostolic  see,  to  consider  his  case,  to  reflect  on  what  he  had 
"  merited  by  these  services  he  had  done  the  papacy,  and  to 
"  find  a  way  that  he,  being  divorced  from  his  queen,  may 
"  marry  another  wife,  of  whom,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  he 
"  might  hope  for  issue  male.  Therefore  the  ambassador  was 
"  to  use  all  means  possible  to  be  admitted  to  speak  to  the  pope 
"  in  private,  and  then  to  deliver  him  these  letters  of  credence, 
"  in  which  there  was  a  most  earnest  clause  added  with  the 
"  king's  own  hand.  He  was  also  to  make  a  condolence  of  the 
"  miseries  the  pope  and  cardinals  were  in,  both  in  the  king's 
"  name  and  the  cardinal's,  and  to  assure  the  pope,  they  would 
"  use  all  the  most  effectual  means  that  were  possible  for  setting 
"  him  at  liberty,  in  which  the  cardinal  would  employ  as  much 
"  industry  as  if  there  were  no  other  way  to  come  to  the  king- 
"  dom  of  heaven  but  by  doing  it.  Then  he  was  to  open  the 
"  king's  business  to  the  pope,  the  scruples  of  his  conscience, 
"  the  great  danger  of  cruel  wars  upon  so  disputable  a  succes- 
"  sion,  the  entreaties  of  all  the  nobility  and  the  whole  kingdom, 
"  with  many  other  urgent  reasons,  to  obtain  what  was  desired. 
"  He  was  also  to  lay  before  the  pope  the  present  condition  of 
"  Christendom  and  of  Italy,  that  he  might  consider  of  what 
"  importance  it  was  to  his  own  affairs,  and  to  the  apostolic  see, 
"  to  engage  the  king  so  firmly  to  his  interests  as  this  would 
"  certainly  do ;  and  to  move  that  the  pope,  without  communi- 
"  eating  the  matter  to  any  person,  would  freely  grant  it,  and 
"  sign  the  commission  which  was  therewith  sent,  engrossed  in 
"  due  form,  and  ready  to  be  signed;  by  which  the  cardinal 
"  was  authorized,  with  the  assistance  of  such  as  he  should 
"  choose,  to  proceed  in  the  matter,  according  to  some  in- 
"  structions  which  were  also  sent,  fairly  written  out  for  the 
"  pope  to  sign.  A  dispensation  was  also  sent  in  due  form  : 
"  and,  if  these  were  cxpeded,  he  might  assure  the  pope,  that 
"  as  the  king  had  sent  over  a  vast  sum  to  the  French  king  for 
"  paying  his  army  in  Italy,  so  he  would  spare  no  travail  nor 
"  treasure,  but  make  war  upon  the  emperor  in  Flanders,  with 
"  his  whole  strength,  till  he  forced  him  to  set  the  pope  at 
"  liberty,  and  restore  the  state  of  the  church  to  its  former 
"  power  and  dignity.  And  if  the  pope  were  already  at  liberty, 
"  and  had  made  an  agreement  with  the  emperor,  he  was  to 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  91 

"  represent  to  him  how  little  cause  he  had  to  trust  much  to 
47  "  the  emperor,  who  had  so  oft  broke  his  faith,  and  designed 
"  to  do  all  he  could  towards  the  depressing  the  ecclesiastical 
"  state.  And  the  pope  was  to  be  remembered,  that  he  had 
"  dispensed  with  the  emperor's  oath  for  marrying  the  king's 
"  daughter  without  communicating  the  matter  to  the  king. 
"  And  if  he  had  done  so  much  for  one  that  had  been  his 
"  enemy,  how  much  more  might  the  king  expect  the  like 
"  favour,  who  had  always  paid  him  a  most  filial  duty  ?  Or,  if 
"  the  pope  would  not  grant  the  commission  to  the  cardinal  to 
"  try  the  matter,  as  a  person  that,  being  the  king's  chief 
"  minister,  was  not  indifferent  enough  to  judge  in  any  of  the 
"  king's  concerns ;  he  was  by  all  means  to  overcome  that,  and 
"  assure  the  pope  that  he  would  proceed  in  it  as  a  judge  ought 
"  to  do.  But  if  the  pope  stood  upon  it,  and  would  by  no 
"  means  be  persuaded  to  sign  the  commission  for  the  cardinal, 
"  then  he  was  to  propose  Staphileus,  dean  of  the  rota,  who 
"  was  then  in  England,  and  was  to  except  against  all  other 
"  foreigners,  if  the  pope  chanced  to  propose  any  other.  He 
"  was  also  to  represent  to  the  pope  that  the  king  would  look 
"  upon  a  delay  as  a  denial ;  and,  if  the  pope  inclined  to  consult 
"  with  any  of  the  cardinals  about  it,  he  was  to  divert  him  from 
"  it  all  that  was  possible ;  but  if  the  pope  would  needs  do  it, 
"  then  he  was  to  address  himself  to  them,  and,  partly  by  in- 
"  forming  them  of  the  reasons  of  the  king's  cause,  partly  by 
"  rewarding  the  good  offices  they  should  do,  he  was  to  engage 
"  them  for  the  king.  And  with  this  despatch  letters  were 
"  sent  to  cardinal  Pucci,  Sanctorum  Quatuor,  and  the  other 
"  cardinals,  to  be  made  use  of  as  there  should  be  occasion 
"  for  it.  And  because  money  was  like  to  be  the  most  power- 
"  ful  argument,  especially  to  men  impoverished  by  a  cap- 
"  tivity,  ten  thousand  ducats  were  remitted  to  Venice,  to  be 
"  distributed  as  the  king's  affairs  required ;  and  he  was 
"  empowered  to  make  further  promises,  as  he  saw  cause  for 
"  it,  which  the  king  would  faithfully  make  good ;  and  in 
"  particular  they  were  to  be  wanting  in  nothing  that  might 
"  absolutely  engage  the  cardinal  Datary  to  favour  the  king's 
"  business." 

The  same  things  had  been  committed  to  the  secretary's  care,  The  pope 
and  they  were  both  to  proceed  by  concert,  each  of  them  doing  f^^e 


92  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

was  in  a]j  t|mt  was  possible  to  promote  the  business.  But  before  this 
Collect.  reached  Koine,  secretary  Knight  was  come  thither ;  and  find- 
Numb.  4.  jng  jj.  inip0SSiDle  to  be  admitted  to  the  pope's  presence,  he  had, 
by  corrupting  some  of  his  guards,  sent  him  the  sum  of  the 
king's  demands.  Upon  which  the  pope  sent  him  word,  that 
the  dispensation  should  be  sent  fully  expeded.  So  gracious 
was  a  pope  in  captivity.  But  at  that  time  the  general  of  the 
Observants  in  Spain6  being  at  Rome,  required  a  promise  of 
the  pope  not  to  grant  any  thing  that  might  prejudice  the 
queen's  cause,  till  it  were  first  communicated  to  the  imperialists 
Popeescap-  there.  But  when  the  pope  made  his  escape,  the  secretary  and 
[Herbert,  the  ambassador  went  to  him  to  Orvieto  about  the  end  of  De- 
p.  214.]  cember,  and  first  did,  in  the  king's  and  cardinal's  name,  con- 
gratulate his  freedom.  Then  the  secretary  discoursed  the 
business.  The  pope  owned  that  he  had  received  the  message 
which  he  had  sent  to  him  at  Rome;  but  in  respect  of  his  pro- 
mise, and  that  yet  in  a  manner  he  was  in  captivity,  he  begged 
the  king  would  have  a  little  patience,  and  he  should  before 
long  have  not  only  that  dispensation,  but  any  thing  else  that 
lay  in  his  power.  But  the  secretary  not  being  satisfied  with  48 
that  excuse,  the  pope  in  the  end  said,  he  should  have  it ;  but 
with  this  condition,  That  he  would  beseech  the  king  not  to 
proceed  upon  it  till  the  pope  were  fully  at  liberty,  and  the 
Germans  and  Spaniards  were  driven  out  of  Italy.  And  upon 
the  king's  promising  this,  the  dispensation  was  to  be  put  in  his 
hands.  So  the  secretary,  who  had  a  great  mind  once  to  have 
the  bull  in  his  possession,  made  no  scruple  to  engage  his  pro- 
mise for  that.  The  pope  also  told  them,  he  was  not  expert  in 
those  things,  but  he  easily  apprehended  the  danger  that  might 
arise  from  any  dispute  about  the  succession  to  the  crown,  and 
that  therefore  he  would  communicate  the  business  to  the  car- 
dinal Sanctorum  Quatuor ;  upon  which  they  resolved  to  pre- 
vent that  cardinal's  being  with  the  pope,  and  went  and  delivered 
the  letters  they  had  for  him,  and  promised  him  a  good  reward, 
if  he  were  favourable  to  their  requests  in  the  king's  behalf. 

6  The  general  of  the  Observants  in  some  originals  (see  Coll.  pp.  22, 
in  Spain  seems  an  improper  expres-  23).  Whether  it  was  done  impro- 
sion,  for  the  generals  have  the  go-  perly,  or  whether  that  order  was 
vernment  of  the  whole  order  every-  then  only  in  Spain,  I  cannot  deter- 
where  [F.] ;  yet  I  find  him  so  called  mine.  [Author.] 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  93 

Then  they  shewed  him  the  commissions  that  were  sent  from 
England ;  but  he,  upon  the  perusal  of  them,  said,  they  could 
not  pass  without  a  perpetual  dishonour  on  the  pope  and  the 
king  too;  and  excepted  to  several  clauses  that  were  in  them. 
So  they  desired  him  to  draw  one  that  might  both  be  sufficient 
for  the  king's  purpose,  and  such  as  the  pope  might  with  honour 
grant ;  which  being  done,  the  pope  told  them,  That,  though 
he  apprehended  great  danger  to  himself  if  the  emperor  should 
know  what  he  had  done,  yet  he  would  rather  expose  himself 
to  utter  ruin,  than  give  the  king  or  the  cardinal  cause  to  think 
him  ingrate ;  but,  with  many  sighs  and  tears,  he  begged  that 
the  king  would  not  precipitate  things,  or  expose  him  to  be 
undone,  by  beginning  any  process  upon  the  bull.  And  so  he  And,  being 
delivered  the  commission  and  dispensation,  signed,  to  Knight.  jtivesTbull 
But  the  means  that  the  pope  proposed  for  his  publishing  and  for  it- 
owning  what  he  now  granted  was,  that  Lautrec,  with  the  craftPand 3 
French  army,  should  march,  and,  coming  where  the  pope  was,  policy, 
should  require  him  to  grant  the  commission :  so  that  the  pope 
should  excuse  himself  to  the  emperor,  that  he  had  refused  to 
grant  it  upon  the  desire  of  the  English  ambassador,  but  that 
he  could  not  deny  the  general  of  the  French  army  to  do  an 
act  of  public  justice :  and  by  this  means  he  would  save  his 
honour,  and  not  seem  guilty  of  breach  of  promise  ;  and  then 
he  would  despatch  the  commission  about  the  time  of  Lautrec1s 
being  near  him,  and  therefore  he  entreated  the  king  to  accept 
of  what  was  then  granted  for  the  present.  The  commission 
and  dispensation  was  given  to  the  secretary ;  and  they  pro- 
mised to  send  the  bull  after  him,  of  the  same  form  that  was 
desired  from  England,  and  the  pope  engaged  to  reform  it  as 
should  be  found  needful.  And  it  seems  by  these  letters  that 
a  dispensation  and  commission  had  been  signed  by  the  pope 
when  he  was  a  prisoner,  but  they  thought  not  fit  to  make  any 
use  of  them,  lest  they  should  be  thought  null,  as  being  granted 
when  the  pope  was  in  captivity. 

Thus  the  pope  expressed  all  the  readiness  that  could  be  ex-  and  the 
pected  from  him,  in  the  circumstances  he  was  then  in;  being  "^s 


measures 


overawed  by  the  imperialists,  who  were  harassing  the  country,  vemed 
and  taking  castles  very  near  the  place  where  he  was.     Lautrec 
with  the  French  army  lay  still  fast  about  Bologna,  and  as  the 
season  of  the  year  was  not  favourable,  so  he  did  not  express 


94  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

any  inclinations  to  enter  into  action.  The  cardinal  Sanctorum 
Quatuor  got  four  thousand  crowns  as  the  reward  of  his  pains, 
and  in  earnest  of  what  lie  was  to  expect  when  the  matter  should  49 
be  brought  to  a  final  conclusion.  In  this  whole  matter  the  pope 
carried  himself  as  a  wise  and  politic  prince,  that  considered  his 
interest,  and  provided  against  dangers  with  great  foresight. 
But  as  for  apostolical  wisdom,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel, 
that  was  not  to  be  expected  from  him.  For  now,  though  the 
high-sounding  names  of  Christ's  vicar,  and  St.  Peter  s  suc- 
cessor, were  still  retained  to  keep  up  the  pope's  dignity  and 
authority,  yet  they  had  for  many  ages  governed  themselves  as 
secular  princes ;  so  that  the  maxims  of  that  court  were  no 
more  to  keep  a  good  conscience,  and  to  proceed  according  to 
the  rules  of  the  gospel,  and  the  practice  of  the  primitive 
church,  committing  the  event  to  God,  and  submitting  to  his 
will  in  all  things ;  but  the  keeping  a  balance,  the  maintaining 
their  interest  in  the  courts  of  princes,  the  securing  their 
dominions,  and  the  raising  their  families,  being  that  which 
they  chiefly  looked  at,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
pope  governed  himself  by  these  measures,  though  religion  was 
to  be  made  use  of  to  help  him  out  of  straits.  All  this  I  set 
down  the  more  particularly,  both  because  I  take  my  informa- 
tion from  original  letters,  and  that  it  may  clearly  appear  how 
matters  went  at  that  time  in  the  court  of  Rome. 
Collect.  Secretary  Knight,  being  infirm,  could  not  travel  with  that 

'  s'  haste  that  was  required  in  this  business,  and  therefore  he  sent 
the  proto -notary  Gambora  with  the  commission  and  dispensa- 
tion to  England,  and  followed  in  easy  journeys.  The  cardinals 
that  had  been  consulted  with  did  all  express  great  readiness  in 
granting;  the  king's  desire.  The  cardinal  Datary  had  forsaken 
the  court,  and  betaken  himself  to  serve  God  and  his  cure  ;  and 
other  cardinals  were  hostages  :  so  that  now  there  were  but 
five  about  the  pope,  Monte,  Sanctorum  Quatuor,  Ridolphi, 
Ravennate,  and  Perusino.  But  a  motion  being  made  of  send- 
ing over  a  legate,  the  pope  would  by  no  means  hearken  to  it, 
for  that  would  draw  new  troubles  on  him  from  the  emperor. 
That  had  been^desired  from  England  by  a  despatch  of  the 
twenty-seventh  of  December,  which  pressed  a  speedy  conclu- 
sion of  the  business ;  upon  which  the  pope,  on  the  twelfth  of 
January,  did  communicate  the  matter  under  the  seal  of  confes- 


book  ii]  THE  REFORMATION.     (152;.)  95 

sion  to  the  cardinals  Sanctorum  Quatuor  and  Simonctta,  (who 
was  then  come  to  the  court,)  and  upon  conference  with  them 
he  proposed  to  sir  Gregory  Cassali,  that  he  thought  the  safer 
way  was,  "  That,  either  by  virtue  of  the  commission  that  the  The  me- 
"  secretary  had  obtained,  or  by  the  legatine  power  that  was  poBedby 
"  lodged  with  the  cardinal  of  York,  he  should  proceed  in  the  the  pope. 
"  business.  And  if  the  king  found  the  matter  clear  in  his  own  Numb.  6. 
"  conscience,  (in  which,  the  pope  said,  no  doctor  in  the  whole 
"  world  could  resolve  the  matter  better  than  the  king  himself,) 
"  he  should  without  more  noise  make  judgment  be  given;  and 
"  presently  marry  another  wife,  and  then  send  for  a  legate  to 
"  confirm  the  matter.  And  it  would  be  easier  to  ratify  all 
"  when  it  was  once  done,  than  to  go  on  in  a  process  from 
"  Rome.  For  the  queen  would  protest,  that  both  the  place 
"  and  the  judges  were  suspected,  and  not  free ;  upon  which, 
"  in  the  course  of  law,  the  pope  must  grant  an  inhibition  for 
"  the  king's  not  marrying  another  while  the  suit  depended, 
"  and  must  avocate  the  business  to  be  heard  in  the  court  of 
"  Rome  ;  which,  with  other  prejudices,  were  unavoidable  in  a 
"  public  process  by  bulls  from  Rome.  But  if  the  thing  wont 
50  ''  on  in  England,  and  the  king  had  once  married  another  wife, 
"  the  pope  then  would  find  very  good  reasons  to  justify  the 
"  confirming  a  thing  that  was  gone  so  far,  and  promised  to 
"  send  any  cardinal  whom  they  should  name."  This  the  pope 
desired  the  ambassador  would  signify  to  the  king,  as  the  advice 
of  the  two  cardinals,  and  take  no  notice  of  him  in  it.  But  the 
despatch  shews  he  was  a  more  faithful  minister  than  to  do  so. 

The  ambassador  found  all  the  earnestness  in  the  pope  that 
was  possible  to  comply  with  the  king,  and  that  he  was  jealous 
both  of  the  emperor  and  Francis,  and  depended  wholly  on  the 
king ;  so  that  he  found,  if  the  terror  of  the  imperial  forces 
were  over,  the  court  of  England  would  dispose  of  the  aposto- 
lical see  as  they  pleased.  And  indeed  this  advice,  how  little 
soever  it  had  of  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel,  was  certainly  pru- 
dent and  subtle,  and  that  which  of  all  things  the  Spaniards 
apprehended  most.  And  therefore  the  general  of  the  Obser- 
vants moved  cardinal  Campegius,  then  at  Rome,  for  an  inhibi- 
tion, lest  the  process  should  be  carried  on  and  determined  in 
England.     But  that  being  signified  to  the  pope,  he  said,  It 


96  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

could  not  be  granted,  since  there  was  no  suit  depending  ;  in 
which  case  only  an  inhibition  can  be  granted. 

But  now  I  must  look  over  again  to  England,  to  open  the 
Staphileus  counsels  there.     At  that  time  Staphileus,  dean  of  the  Rota", 

sent  from  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 

England,  was  there ;  and  lie,  either  to  make  his  court  the  better,  or  that 
he  was  so  persuaded  in  opinion,  seemed  fully  satisfied  about 
the  justice  of  the  king's  cause.     So  they  sent  him  to  Rome 

Hisinstmc-  with  instructions  both  public  and  secret.  The  public  instruc- 
tions related  to  the  pope's  affairs,  in  which  all  possible  assist- 

Cotton.  •       i  I  •  •  •        •        i 

libr.  Vitel.  ance  was  promised  by  the  king.     But  one  proposition  in  them 

'^•)°-     flowed  from  the  cardinal's  ambition,  "That  the  kings  of  Em;- 
15.]  Jan.  8.  &  #" 

Duplicates  "  ^an(^  an(l  France   thought  it  would  advance  the  pope's  in- 
corrected     "  terests,  if  he  should  command  the  cardinals  that  were  under 

by  the  .  . 

cardinal's        no  restraint,  to  meet  in  some  secure  place,  to  consider  ot  the 
hand.  tt  affajrs  0f  the  church,  that  they  might  suffer  no  prejudice  by 

"  the  pope's  captivity :  and  for  that  end,  and  to  conserve  the 
"  dignity  of  the  apostolic  see,  that  they  should  choose  such  a 
"  vicar  or  president,  as,  partly  by  his  prudence  and  courage, 
"  partly  by  the  assistance  of  the  two  kings,  upon  whom  de- 
"  pended  all  their  hopes,  might  do  such  services  to  the  apo- 
"  stolic  see,  as  were  most  necessary  in  that  distracted  time,  by 
"  which  the  pope's  liberty  would  be  hastened."" 

It  cannot  be  imagined  but  the  pope  would  be  offended  with 
this  proposition,  and  apprehend  that  the  cardinal  of  York  was 
not  satisfied  to  be  intriguing  for  the  popedom  after  his  death, 
but  was  aspiring  to  it  while  he  was  alive.  For  as  it  was  plain, 
he  was  the  person  that  must  be  chosen  for  that  trust;  so  if  the 
pope  were  used  hardly  by  the  emperor,  and  forced  to  ill  con- 
ditions, the  vicar  so  chosen  and  his  cardinals  would  disown 
those  conditions,  which  might  end  in  a  schism,  or  his  deposi- 
tion. But  Staphileus'1  secret  instructions  related  wholly  to  the 
king's  business,  which  were  these :  "  That  the  king  had  opened 
"  to  him  the  error  of  his  marriage ;  and  that  the  said  bishop, 
"  out  of  his  great  learning,  did  now  clearly  perceive  how  in- 
"  valid  and  insufficient  it  was  :  therefore  the  king  recommended 
"  it  to  his  care,  that  he  would  convince  the  pope  and  the  car- 
"  dinals  with  the  arguments  that  had  been  laid  before  him, 

7  Staphileus  was  a  bishop;  Simonelta  was  dean  of  the  Roia.  [S.j 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  97 

"  and  of  which  a  brcviate  was  given  him.  Ho  was  also  to 
"  represent  the  great  mischiefs  that  might  follow,  if  princes  got 
51  "  not  justice  and  ease  from  the  apostolic  see.  Therefore,  if  the 
"  pope  were  yet  in  captivity,  he  was  to  propose  a  meeting  of 
"  the  cardinals,  for  choosing  the  cardinal  of  York  to  be  their 
"  head  during  the  pope's  imprisonment,  or  that  a  full  commis- 
"  sion  might  he  sent  to  him  for  the  king's  matter.  And  in 
"  particular  he  was  to  take  care  that  the  business  might  be 
"  tried  in  England.  And,  for  his  pains  in  promoting  the  king's 
"  concerns,  the  king  promised  to  procure  a  bishopric  for  him 
"  in  France,  and  to  help  him  to  a  cardinal's  hat."  By  him  the 
king  wrote  to  the  pope.  The  rude  draught  of  it  remains 
under  the  cardinal's  hand,  earnestly  desiring  a  speedy  and 
favourable  despatch  of  his  business,  with  a  credence  to  the 
bearer. 

The  cardinal  also  wrote  to  the  pope  by  him,  and,  after  a  The  cardi- 
long  congratulating  his  liberty,  with  many  sharp  reflections  on  by  ilim 
the  emperor,  he  pressed  a  despatch  of  the  king's  business,  in 
which  he  would  not  use  many  words  :  this  only  I  will  add,  says 
he,  "  That  that  which  is  desired  is  holy  and  just,  and  very 
"  much  for  the  safety  and  quiet  of  this  kingdom,  which  is  most 
"  devoted  to  the  apostolical  see.  He  also  wTote  by  the  same 
"  hand  to  the  ambassador,  that  the  king  would  have  things  so 
"  carried,  that  all  occasion  of  discontent  or  cavilling,  whether 
"  at  home  or  abroad,  might  be  removed ;  and  therefore  de- 
"  sired  that  another  cardinal  might  be  sent  legate  to  England, 
"  and  joined  in  commission  with  himself  for  judging  the  matter. 
"  He  named  either  Campegius,  Tranus,  or  Farnese.  Or  if 
"  that  could  not  be  obtained,  that  a  fuller  commission  might 
"  be  sent  to  himself  with  all  possible  haste,  since  delays  might 
"  produce  great  inconveniences.  If  a  legate  were  named,  then 
"  care  must  be  taken  that  he  should  be  one  who  were  learned, 
"  indifferent,  and  tractable  ;  and  if  Campegius  could  be  the 
"  man,  he  was  the  fittest  person.  And  when  one  was  named, 
"  he  should  make  him  a  decent  present,  and  assure  him  that 
"  the  king  would  most  liberally  recompense  all  his  labour  and 
"  expense.  He  also  required  him  to  press  his  speedy  despatch, 
"  and  that  the  commission  should  be  full  to  try  and  determine, 
"  without  any  reservation  of  the  sentence  to  be  given  by  the 

BURNET,  PART  I.  H 


98 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


A  larger 
bull  desired 
by  the 
king:. 


Gardiner 
and  Fox 
sent  to 
Home. 


With  let- 
ters from 
the  king. 
Collect. 
Numb.  7. 


"  pope."     This  despatch  is  interlined,  and  amended  with  the 
cardinal's  own  hand. 

But  upon  the  arrival  of  the  messenger,  whom  the  secretary 
had  sent,  with  the  commission  and  dispensation,  and  the  other 
packets  before  mentioned,  it  was  debated  in  the  king's  council, 
whether  he  should  go  on  in  his  process,  or  continue  to  solicit 
new  bulls  from  Rome.  On  the  one  hand,  they  saw  how  tedi- 
ous, dangerous,  and  expensive,  a  process  at  Rome  was  like  to 
prove ;  and  therefore  it  seemed  the  easiest  and  most  expedite 
way  to  proceed  before  the  cardinal  in  his  legatine  court,  who 
should  ex  officio,  and  in  the  summary  way  of  the  court,  bring 
it  to  a  speedy  conclusion.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 
cardinal  gave  sentence,  and  the  king  should  marry,  then  they 
were  not  sure  but  before  that  time  the  pope  might  either 
change  his  mind,  or  his  interest  might  turn  him  another  way. 
And  the  pope's  power  was  so  absolute  by  the  canon  law,  that 
no  general  clauses  in  commissions  to  legates  could  bind  him  to 
confirm  their  sentences :  and  if,  upon  the  king's  marrying 
another  wife,  the  pope  should  refuse  to  confirm  it,  then  the  king 
would  be  in  a  worse  case  than  he  was  now  in,  and  his  marriage 
and  issue  by  it  should  be  still  disputable  :  therefore  they  52 
thought  this  was  by  no  means  to  be  adventured  on,  but  they 
should  make  new  addresses  to  the  court  of  Rome.  In  the 
debate,  some  sharp  words  fell  either  from  the  king,  or  some  of 
his  secular  counsellors ;  intimating,  that  if  the  pope  continued 
under  such  fears,  the  king  must  find  some  other  way  to  set 
him  at  ease.  So  it  was  resolved,  that  Stephen  Gardiner,  com- 
monly called  doctor  Stevens,  the  cardinal's  chief  secretary,  and 
Edward  Fox,  the  king's  almoner,  should  be  sent  to  Rome  ;  the 
one  being  esteemed  the  ablest  canonist  in  England,  the  other 
one  of  the  best  divines  :  they  were  despatched  the  tenth  of 
February.  "  By  them  the  king  wrote  to  the  pope,  thanking 
"  him  that  he  had  expressed  such  forward  and  earnest  willing- 
"  ness  to  give  him  ease,  and  had  so  kindly  promised  to  gratify 
"  his  desires,  of  which  he  expected  now  to  see  the  effects.  He 
"  wrote  also  to  the  cardinals  his  thanks  for  the  cheerfulness 
"  with  which  they  had  in  consistory  promised  to  promote  his 
"  suit ;  for  which  he  assured  them  they  should  never  have 
"  cause  to  repent."     But  the  cardinal  wrote  in  a  strain,  that 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  99 

shews  he  was  in  some  fear  that  if  he  could  not  bring  about  the 

king's  desires,  he  was  like  to  lose  his  favour.     "  He  besought  And  the 

"  the  pope  as  lying  at  his  feet,  that  if  he  thought  him  a  Chri-  ^j"^  ' 

"  stian,  a  good  cardinal,  and  not  unworthy  of  that  dignity,  an  Numb.  8. 

"  useful  member  of  the  apostolic  see,  a  promoter  of  justice  and 

"  equity,  or  thought  him  his  faithful  creature,  or  that  he  de- 

"  sired  his  own  eternal  salvation,  that  he  would   now  so  far 

"  consider  his  intercession,  as  to  grant  kindly  and  speedily 

"  that  which  the  king  earnestly  desired  ;  which  if  he  did  not 

"  know  to   be  holy,  right,  and  just,  he  would  undergo  any 

"  hazard  or  punishment  whatsoever,  rather  than  promote  it ; 

"  but  he  did  apprehend,  if  the  king  found  that  the  pope  was 

"  so  overawed  by  the  emperor,  as  not  to  grant  that  which  all 

"  Christendom  judged  was  grounded  both  on  the  divine  and 

"  human  laws,  both  he  and  other  Christian  princes  would  from 

"  thence  tako  occasion  to  provide  themselves  of  other  remedies, 

"  and  lessen  and  despise  the  authority  of  the  apostolic  see."" 

In  his  letters  to  Cassali  he  expressed  a  great  sense  of  the  ser-  Collect. 

vices   which  the   cardinal   Sanctorum   Quatuor   had  done  the  Numb-  9- 

king ;  and  bid  him  inquire  what  were  the  things  in  which  he 

delighted  most,  whether  furniture,  gold,  plate,  or  horses,  that 

they  might  make  him  acceptable  presents ;    and  assure  him, 

that  the  king  would  contribute  largely  towards  the  carrying 

on  the  building  of  St.  Peter's  in  the  Vatican. 

The  most  important  thing  about  which  they  were  employed,  The  sub- 
was  to  procure  the  expediting  of  a  bull  which  was  formed  in  !itanvenfi 
England,  with  all  the  strongest  clauses  that  could  be  imagined,  sired  by 
In  the  preamble  of  which,  all  the  reasons  against  the  validity  c^ject 
of  the  bull  of  pope  Julius  II.  were  recited ;  and  it  was  also  Numb.  10. 
hinted,  "  that  it  was  against  the  law  of  God :  but  to  lessen 
"  that,  it  was  added,  at  least  ivhere  there  ivas  not  a  sufficient 
"  dispensation  obtained :   therefore  the  pope,  to  reward  the 
"  great  services  by  which  the  king  had  obliged  the  apostolic 
"  see,  and  having  regard  to  the  distractions,  that  might  follow 
"  on  a  disputable    title ;   upon    a   full    consultation    with   the 
''  cardinals,   having  also   heard  the    opinions  of  divines   and 

"  canonists,  deputed for  las  legate  to  concur  with  the 

"  cardinal  of  York,  either  together,  or  (the  one  being  hindered 

53  "  or  unwilling)  severally.     And  if  they  found  those  things  that 

"  were  suggested  against  the  bull  of  pope  Julius,  or  any  of 


100  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  them,  well  or  sufficiently  proved,  then  to  declare  it  void  and 
"  null,  as  surreptitiously  procured,  upon  false  grounds ;  and 
"  thereupon  to  annul  the  marriage  that  had  followed  upon  it : 
"  and  to  give  both  parties  full  leave  to  marry  again,  notwith- 
"  standing  any  appellation  or  protestation,  the  pope  making 
"  them  his  vicars,  with  full  and  absolute  power  and  authority  ; 
"  empowering  them  also  to  declare  the  issue  begotten  in  the 
"  former  marriage  good  and  legitimate,  if  they  saw  cause  for 
"  it ;  the  pope  binding  himself  to  confirm  whatever  they 
"  should  do  in  that  process,  and  never  to  revoke  or  repeal  what 
"  they  should  pronounce  :  declaring  also,  that  this  bull  should 
"  remain  in  force  till  the  process  were  ended,  and  that  by  no 
"  revocation  or  inhibition  it  should  be  recalled  ;  and  if  any 
"  such  were  obtained,  these  are  all  declared  void  and  null,  and 
"  the  legates  were  to  proceed  notwithstanding  :  and  all  ended 
"  with  a  full  non  obstante." 

This  was  judged  the  uttermost  force  that  could  be  in  a  bull ; 
though  the  civilians  would  scarce  allow  any  validity  at  all  in 
these  extravagant  clauses :  but  the  most  material  thing  in  this 
bull  is,  that  it  seems  the  king  was  not  fully  resolved  to  declare 
his  daughter  illegitimate.  Whether  he  pretended  this  to 
mitigate  the  queen's  or  the  emperor's  opposition,  or  did  really 
intend  it,  is  not  clear  :  but  what  he  did  afterwards  in  parliament 
shews  he  had  this  deep  in  his  thoughts,  though  the  queen's 
carriage  did  soon  after  provoke  him  to  pursue  his  resentments 
against  her  daughter.  The  French  king  did  also  join  a  most 
earnest  letter  of  his  to  the  pope,  which  they  were  also  to 
deliver.  They  had  likewise  a  secret  instruction,  by  all  means 
to  endeavour  that  cardinal  Campeggio  should  be  the  legate  :  he 
had  the  reputation  of  a  learned  canonist,  and  they  knew  he 
was  a  tractable  man ;  and  besides  that  he  was  bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, the  king  had  obliged  him  b}T  the  grant  of  a  palace  which 
the  king  was  building  in  Burgo  at  Rome  for  his  ambassadors ; 
Rot.  Pat.  which,  before  it  was  finished,  he  had  by  a  patent  given  to  him 
2.  par.        ancj  ^  ]iejrs .  s0  they  ]iat|  better  hopes  of  him  than  of  any 

other. 
The  cardi-       By  these  ambassadors  the  cardinal  wrote  a  long  and  most 
ual's  ear-     earnest  letter  to  John  Cassali  the  protonotary,  that  was  the 

ricwfcri6ss  in 

thismatter.  ambassador's  brother  :    in  which  all  the  arguments  that  a  most 
'.  >lle?t"       anxious  mind  could  invent  or  dictate  arc  laid  together  to  per- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1527.)  101 

suade  the  pope  to  grant  the  king's  desires.  Among  other 
things  he  tells  him,  "  How  he  had  engaged  to  the  king,  that 
"  the  pope  would  not  deny  it ;  That  the  king,  both  out  of 
"  scruple  of  conscience,  and  because  of  some  diseases  in  the 
"  queen  that  were  incurable,  had  resolved  never  to  come  near 
"  her  more  ;  and,  That  if  the  pope  continued,  out  of  his  partial 
"  respects  to  the  emperor,  to  be  inexorable,  the  king  would 
"  proceed  another  way."  He  offers  to  take  all  the  blame  of  it 
upon  his  own  soul,  if  it  were  amiss  ;  with  many  other  particu- 
lars, in  which  he  is  so  pressing,  that  I  cannot  imagine  what 
moved  the  lord  Herbert,  who  saw  those  letters,  to  think  that  [Herbert, 
the  cardinal  did  not  really  intend  the  divorce9.  He,  it  seems,  p' ' 
saw  another  paper  of  their  instructions,  by  which  they  were 
ordered  to  say  to  the  pope,  That  the  cardinal  was  not  the 
author  of  the  counsel.  But  all  that  was  intended  by  that  was 
54  only  to  excuse  him  so  far,  that  he  might  not  be  thought  too 
partial,  and  an  incompetent  judge  :  for  as  he  was  far  from  dis- 
owning the  justice  of  the  king's  suit,  so  he  would  not  have 
trusted  a  secret  of  that  importance  to  paper,  which,  when  it 
should  be  known  to  the  king,  would  have  lost  him  his  favour. 
But  undoubtedly  it  was  concerted  between  the  king  and  him  to 
remove  an  exception,  which  otherwise  the  cardinals  of  the  im- 
perial faction  would  have  made,  to  his  being  the  judge  in  that 
matter. 

With  those  letters  and  instructions  were  Gardiner  and  Fox  Collect, 
sent  to  Rome,  where  both  the  Cassalis10  and  Staphileus  were 
promoting   the   king's    business    all   they  could.     And   being 
strengthened  with  the  accession  of  those  other  two,  they  made 
a  greater  progress ;  so  that  in  April  the  pope  did  in  consistory 
declare  cardinal  Campeggio  legate  to  go  to  England,  that  he,  campeggio 
with  the  cardinal  of  York,  might  try  the  validity  of  the  king's  declared 
marriage  :  but  that  cardinal  made  great  excuses.    He  was  then  collect. 
legate  at  Rome,  in  which  he  had  such  advantages,  that  he  had  Numb-  T3- 


9   Probably  beside  the  paper  of  I0  Sir  Gregory  Cassali  was  not 

instructions    here    mentioned     the  then  at  Rome,  but  at  Orvieto,  where 

testimony  of  king   Henry,   p.  73,  the  pope  was  at  that  time.     Staphi- 

thatthe  cardinal  had  always  opposed  leus  was  not  yet  come.     And  when 

it;    and  the  information  given  the  he  came  he  did  not  promote  but 

king,  p.  78,  of  his  having  juggled  in  hindered  the  king's  business  all  he 

this  business.    [G.]  could.    See  Gardiner's  letters.    [S.] 


102  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

no  mind  to  enter  in  a  business  which  must  for  ever  engage 

either  the  emperor  or  the  king  against  him  :  he  also  pretended 

an  inability  to  travel  so  great  a  journey,  being  much  subject  to 

Wolsey       {lie  o'out.     But  when  this  was  known  in  England,  the  cardinal 

writes.  &        .  i    i     • 

wrote  him  a  most  earnest  letter,  to  hasten  over,  and  bring 
with  him  all  such  things  as  wero  necessary  for  making  their 
sentence  firm  and  irreversible,  so  that  it  might  never  again  be 
questioned. 

But  here  I  shall  add  a  remark,  which  though  it  is  of  no 
great  importance,  yet  will  be  diverting  to  the  reader.  The 
draught  of  the  letter  is  in  Wolsey's  secretary's  hand,  amended 
in  some  places  by  his  own,  and  concluded  thus  :  /  hope  all 
things  shall  be  done  according  to  the  will  of  God,  the  desire 
of  the  Icing,  the  quiet  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  our  honour,  with 
a  good  conscience.  But  the  cardinal  dashed  out  this  last  word, 
with  a  good  conscience ;  perhaps  judging  that  was  a  thing  fit 
for  meaner  persons,  but  that  it  was  below  the  dignity  of  two 
cardinals  to  consider  it  much.  He  wrote  also  to  Cassali  high 
compliments  for  his  diligence  in  the  step  that  was  made ;  but 
desired  him,  with  all  possible  means,  to  get  the  bull  granted 
and  trusted  to  his  keeping,  with  the  deepest  protestations  that 
no  use  should  be  made  of  it,  but  that  the  king  only  should  see 
it ;  by  which  his  mind  would  be  at  ease,  and  he,  being  put  in 
good  hopes,  would  employ  his  power  in  the  service  of  the  pope 
and  apostolic  see  ;  but  the  pope  was  not  a  man  to  be  cozened 
so  easily. 
May  23.  When  the  cardinal  heard  by  the  next  despatch  what  excuses 

and  delays  Campeggio  made,  he  wrote  to  him  again,  and 
pressed  his  coming  over  in  haste.  "  For  his  being  legate  of 
"  Rome,  he  desired  him  to  name  a  vice-legate.  For  his  want 
"  of  money  and  horses,  Gardiner  would  furnish  him  as  he 
"  desired,  and  he  should  find  an  equipage  ready  for  him  in 
"  France ;  and  he  might  certainly  expect  great  rewards  from 
"  the  king.  But  if  he  did  not  make  more  haste,  the  king 
"  would  incline  to  believe  an  advertisement  that  was  sent  him, 
"  of  his  turning  over  to  the  emperor's  party.  Therefore  if  he 
"  either  valued  the  king's  kindness,  or  were  grateful  for  the 
"  favours  he  had  received  from  him  ;  if  he  valued  the  car- 
"  dinal's  friendship  or  safety,  or  if  he  would  hinder  the  diminu- 
"  tion  of  the  authority  of  the  Roman  church,  all  excuses  set 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1528.)  103 

55  "  aside,  he  must  make  what  haste  in  his  journey  was  possible." 

Yet  the  legate  made  no  great  haste ;  for  till  October  following  [Oct.  9, 
he  came  not  into  England.     The  bull  that  was  desired  could  'S28-] 
not  be  obtained,  but  another  was  granted,  which  perhaps  was 
of  more  force,  because  it  had  not  those  extraordinary  clauses  in 
it.    There  is  the  copy  of  a  bull  to  this  purpose  in  the  Cottonian 
library,  which  has  been  printed  more  than  once  by  some  that 
have  taken  it  for  a  copy  of  the  same  bull  that  was  sent  by 
Campeggio  ;   but  I  take  it  to  be  rather  a  copy  of  that  bull 
which  the  pope  signed  at  Rome  while  he  was  there  a  prisoner, 
and  probably  afterward  at  Orvieto  he  might  give  it  the11  date 
that   it   bears,  1527,  December  17.     But   that  there  was   a  The  pope 
decretal  bull  sent  by  Campeggio,  will  appear  evidently  in  the  |rant!  j 
sequel  of  this  relation.     About  this  time  I  meet  with  the  first  bull, 
evidence  of  the  progress  of  the  king's  love  to  Anne  Boleyn,  in  denis  an 
two  original  letters  of  hers  to  the   cardinal;    from  which  it  [quoted by] 
appears,  not  only  that  the  king  had  then  resolved  to  marry  Herbert. 
her,  but  that  the  cardinal  was  privy  to  it.    They  bear  no  date,  Ep-  279-] 
but  the  matter  of  them  shews  they  were  written  after  the  end 
of  May,  when  the   sweating-sickness  began,   and  about  the 
time  that  the  legate  was  expected.     They  give  such  a  light  to 
the  history,  that  T  shall  not  cast  them  over  to  the  Collection  at 
the  end,  but  set  them  down  here  : 

My  lord,  in  my  most  humblest  ivise  that  my  heart  can  Two  letters 
think,  I  desire  you  to   pardon  me  that  I  am   so    bold   to  °f  ^nne 

.  .   .  Boleyn  s  to. 

trouble  you  with  my  simple  and  rude  writing,  esteeming  it  to  Wblsey. 
proceed  from  her  that  is  much  desirous  to  know  that  your 
grace  does  well,  as  I  perceive  by  this  bearer  that  you  do.  The 
which  I  pray  God  long  to  continue,  as  I  am  most  bound  to 
pray  ;  for  I  do  knoiv  the  great  pains  and  troubles  that  you 
have  taken  for  me  both  day  and  night,  is  never  like  to  be 
recompensed  on  my  part,  but  alonely  in  loving  you  next  unto 
the  king's  grace,  above  all  creatures  living.  And  I  do  not 
doubt  but  the  daily  proofs  of  my  deeds  shall  manifestly 
declare  and  affirm  my  writing  to  be  true  ;  and  I  do  trust  you 
do  think  the  same.  My  lord,  I  do  assure  you  I  do  long  to 
hear  from  you  news  of  the  legate  :  for  I  do  hope  and  they 
come  from  you  they  shall  be  very  good  ;  and  I  am  sure  you 

11  This  was  the  third  commission  the  second  from  Orvieto,  brought 
sent  from  the  pope.  The  first  was  over  by  Fox,  but  both  were  disliked  ; 
sent  from  Rome  by  Gambora,  and     so  this  was  now  obtained.    [S.] 


104  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

desire  it  as  much  as  I,  and  more  and  it  were  possible,  as 
I  know  it  is  not:  and  thus  remaining  in  a  steadfast  hope, 
I  make  an  end  of  my  letter  written  with  the  hand  of  her 
that  is  most  bound  to  be. 
A  post-  The  luriter  of  this  letter  would   not  cease   till  she   had 

khu'Vto  "  caused  me  likewise  to  set  to  my  hand ;  desiring  you,  though  it 
lliia-  be  short,  to  take  it  in  good  part.    I  ensure  you  there  is  neither 

of  us  but  that  greatly  desireth  to  see  you,  and  much  more 
joyous  to  hear  that  you  have  scaped  this  plague  so  well, 
trusting  the  fury  thereof  to  be  passed,  specially  with  them 
that  keepeth  good  diet,  as  I  trust  you  do.  The  not  hearing  of 
the  legate's  arrival  in  France  causeth  us  someivhat  to  muse ; 
notwithstanding  we  trust  by  your  diligence  and  vigilancy 
(with  the  assistance  of  Almighty  God)  shortly  to  be  eased  out 
of  that  trouble.  No  more  to  you  at  this  time ;  but  that  I 
pray  God  send,  you  as  good  health  and  prosperity  as  the 
writer  would. 

By  your  loving  sovereign  and  friend,  Henry  K. 
Your  humble  servant,  Anne  Boicyn. 
My  lord,  in  my  most  humble  wise  that  my  poor  heart  can  5(j 
think,  I  do  thank  your  grace  for  your  kind  letter,  and  for 
your  rich  and  goodly  present,  the  which  I  shall  never  be  able 
to  deserve  without  your  helj> ;  of  the  ivhich  I  have  hitherto 
had  so  great  plenty,  that  all  the  days  of  my  life  I  con  most 
bound  of  all  creatures,  next  the  king's  grace,  to  love  and  serve 
your  grace  :  of  the  which  I  beseech  you  never  to  doubt  that 
ever  I  shall  vary  from  this  thought  as  long  as  any  breath  is 
in  my  body.  And  as  touching  your  grace's  trouble  with  the 
siveat,  I  thank  our  Lord,  that  them  that  I  desired  and 
prayed  for  are  scaped,  and  that  is  the  king  and  you ;  not 
doubting  but  that  God  has  preserved  you  both  for  great 
causes  known  alonely  of  his  high  wisdom.  And  as  for  the 
coming  of  the  legate,  I  desire  that  much  ;  and  if  it  be  God's 
pleasure,  I  pray  him  to  send  this  matter  shortly  to  a  good 
end,  and  then  I  trust,  my  lord,  to  recompense  part  of  your 
great  pains:  in  the  ivhich  I  must  require  you  in  the  mean 
time  to  accept  my  good-will  in  the  stead  of  the  power,  the 
which  must  proceed  partly  from  you,  as  our  Lord  knoweth  : 
to  whom  I  beseech  to  send  you  long  life,  with  continuance  in 
honour.  Written  with  the  hand  of  her  that  is  most  bound  to  be 
Your  humble  and  obedient  servant,  Anne  Boleyn. 


book  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1528.)  105 

The  cardinal,  hearing  that  Campegius  had  the  decretal  bull 
committed  to  his  trust,  to  be  shewed  only  to  the  king  and 
himself,  wrote  to  the  ambassador  that  it  was  necessary  it  should 
be  also  shewed  to  some  of  the  king's  council ;  not  to  make  any  Collect, 
use  of  it,  but  that  thereby  they  might  understand  how  to  U1UJ' I4' 
manage  the  process  better  by  it.  This  he  begged  might  be 
trusted  to  his  care  and  fidelity  ;  and  he  undertook  to  manage 
it  so,  that  no  kind  of  danger  could  arise  out  of  it. 

At  this  time  the  cardinal1'2,  having  finished  his  foundations  The  ear- 
at  Oxford  and  Ipswich,  and  finding  they  were  very  acceptable  coue„ea 
both  to   the  king  and  to  the  clergy,  resolved  to  go  on  and  finished, 
suppress  more  monasteries,  and  erect  new  bishoprics,  turning 
some  abbeys  to  cathedrals.     This  was  proposed  in  the  con-  Octob.  30. 
sistory,  and  granted,  as  appears  by  a  despatch  of  Cassali's. 
He  also  spoke  to  the   pope  about  a  general  visitation  of  all 
monasteries  :    and  on  the  fourth  of  November  the  bull  for  sup- 
pressing some  was  expected;  a  copy  whereof  is  yet  extant,  but  [Rymer, 
written  in  such   a  hand,   that  I  could  not  read  three  words'    '   " 
together  in  any  place  of  it :  and  though  I  tried  others  that 
were  good  at  reading  all  hands,  yet  they  could  not  do  it.     But 
I  find  by  the  despatch,  that  the  pope  did  it  with  some  aversion  ; 
and  when  Gardiner  told  him  plainly,  It  ivas  necessary,  and  it  More  nw- 
must  be  done,  he  paused  a  little,  and  seemed  unwilling  to  give  ^1^ to  be 
any  further  offence  to  religious  orders  :   but  since  he  found  it  suppressed, 
so  uneasy  to  gratify  the  king  in  so  great  a  point  as  the  matter 
of  his  divorce,  he  judged  it  the  more  necessary  to  mollify  him 
by  a  compliance  in  all  other  things.     So  there  was  a  power  [May  28, 
given  to  the  two  leo-ates  to  examine  the  state  of  the  monasteries,  *p9-  .  y- 

o  &  '  mer,  xrv. 

and  to  suppress  such  as  they  thought  fit,  and  convert  them  p.  291.] 
into  bishoprics  and  cathedrals. 
57      While  matters  went  thus  between  Rome  and  England,  the  The  em- 
queen    was   as   active  as  she    could    be  to    engage    her  two  p^™  ^ 
nephews,   the   emperor  and  his  brother,   to  appear   for  her.  king's  suit. 
She  complained  to  them  much  of  the  king,  but  more  of  the 
cardinal :    she  also  gave  them  notice  of  all  the  exceptions  that 

12    How    far    the    cardinal    had  according  to  the  letters  patent,  by 

carried  the  foundation  at  Ipswich  it  which  it  appears  he  had  then  done 

is  not  known;  but  it  is  certain  he  his  part,  and  had  set  off  both  lands 

did  never  finish  what  he  had  designed  and  money   for  these   foundations, 

at  Oxford,  [F.]    But  in  this  I  went  [Author.] 


106  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

were  made  to  the  bull,  and  desired  both  their  advice  and 
assistance.  They,  having  a  mind  to  perplex  the  king's  affairs, 
advised  her  by  no  means  to  yield,  nor  to  be  induced  to  enter 
into  a  religious  life  ;  and  gave  her  assurance,  that,  by  their 
interest  at  Rome,  they  would  support  her,  and  maintain  her 
daughter's  title,  if  it  went  'to  extremities.  And  as  they  em- 
ployed all  their  agents  a*  Rome  to  serve  her  concerns,  so  they 
consulted  with  the  canonists  about  the  force  of  the  exceptions 
to  the  bull.  The  issue  of  which  was,  that  a  breve  was  found 
out,  or  forged,  that  supplied  some  of  the  most  material  defects 
in  the  bull.  For  whereas  in  the  bull,  the  preamble  bore,  that 
the  king  and  queen  had  desired  the  pope's  dispensation  to  ' 
marry,  that  the  peace  might  continue  between  the  two  crowns, 
A  breve  without  any  other  cause  given  :  in  the  preamble  of  this  breve, 
found  out    men^on  is  ma{je  0f  their  desire  to  marry,  "  because  otherwise 

in  Spain,  ■> ' 

Collect.  "  it  was  not  likely  that  the  peace  would  be  continued  between 
um  '  "  the  two  crowns  :  and  for  that  and  divers  other  reasons  they 
"  asked  the  dispensation."  Which  in  the  body  of  the  breve  is 
granted,  bearing  date  the  twenty -sixth  of  December,  1503. 
Upon  this  they  pretended  that  the  dispensation  was  granted 
upon  good  reasons  ;  since  by  this  petition  it  appeared,  that 
there  were  fears  of  a  breach  between  the  crowns  ;  and  that 
there  were  also  other  reasons  made  use  of,  though  they  were 
not  named.  But  there  was  one  fatal  thing  in  it.  In  the  bull 
it  is  only  said,  That  the  queen's  petition  bore,  That  perhaps 
she  had  consummated  her  marriage  with  prince  Arthur  by 
the  carnalis  copula.  But  in  this,  perhaps  is  left  out,  and  it  is 
plainly  said,  That  they  had  consummated  their  marriage. 
This  the  king's  council,  who  suspected  that  the  breve  was 
forged,  made  great  use  of  when  the  question  was  argued, 
whether  prince  Arthur  knew  her  or  not  ?  Though  at  this  time 
it  was  said,  the  Spaniards  did  put  it  in  on  design,  knowing  it  was 
like  to  be  proved  that  the  former  marriage  was  consummated  : 
which  they  intended  to  throw  out  of  the  debate,  since  by  this 
it  appeared,  that  the  pope  did  certainly  know  that,  and  yet 
granted  the  breve  ;  and  that  therefore  there  was  to  be  no  more 
inquiry  to  be  made  into  that,  which  was  already  confessed  :  so 
that  all  that  was  now  to  be  debated  was  the  pope's  power 
of  granting  such  a  dispensation,  in  which  they  had  good  reason 
to  expect  a  favourable  decision  at  Rome. 


iook  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1528.)  107 

But  there  appeared  great  grounds  to  reject  this  breve  Presump- 
as  a  forged  writing.  It  was  neither  in  the  records  of  Eng-  ^^„°  ' 3 
land  nor  Spain,  but  said  to  be  found  among  the  papers  of  forged. 
D.  dc  Puebla,  that  had  been  the  Spanish  ambassador  in  Eng- 
land at  the  time  of  concluding  the  match.  So  that  if  he  only 
had  it,  it  must  have  been  cassated,  otherwise  the  parties  con- 
cerned would  have  got  it  into  their  hands ;  or  else  it  was 
forged  since.  Many  of  the  names  were  written  false,  which 
was  a  presumption  that  it  was  lately  made  by  some  Spaniards, 
who  knew  not  how  to  write  the  names  true.  For  Sigismund, 
who  was  secretary  when  it  was  pretended  to  have  been  signed, 
was  an  exact  man,  and  no  such  errors  were  found  in  breves  at 
that  time.  But  that  which  shewed  it  a  manifest  forgery  was, 
that  it  bore  date  the  twenty-sixth  of  December,  anno  1503,  on 
58  the  same  day  that  the  bull  was  granted.  It  was  not  to  be 
imagined,  that  in  the  same  day  a  bull  and  a  breve  should  have 
been  expedited  in  the  same  business,  Avith  such  material 
differences  in  them.  And  the  style  of  the  court  of  Rome  had 
this  singularity  in  it,  that  in  all  their  breves  they  reckon  the 
beginning  of  the  year  from  Christmas-day  ;  which  being  the 
nativity  of  our  Lord,  they  count  the  year  to  begin  then.  But 
in  their  bulls  they  reckon  the  year  to  begin  at  the  feast  of  the 
Annunciation.  So  that  a  breve  dated  the  twenty-sixth  of 
December  1503,  was,  in  the  vulgar  account,  in  the  year  150&, 
therefore  it  must  be  false ;  for  neither  was  Julius  II.  who 
granted  it,  then  pope,  nor  was  the  treaty  of  the  marriage  so 
far  advanced  at  that  time,  as  to  admit  of  a  breve  so  soon. 
But  allowing  the  breve  to  be  true,  they  had  many  of  the  same 
exceptions  to  it  that  they  had  to  the  bull,  since  it  bore,  that 
the  king  desired  the  marriage  to  avoid  a  breach  between  the 
crowns ;  which  was  false.  It  likewise  bore,  that  the  marriage 
had  been  consummated  between  the  queen  and  prince  Arthur, 
which  the  queen  denied  was  ever  done  ;  so  that  the  suggestion 
in  her  name  being,  as  she  said,  false,  it  could  have  no  force, 
though  it  were  granted  to  be  a  true  breve  :  and  they  said 
it  was  plain  the  imperialists  were  convinced  the  bull  was  of  no 
force,  since  they  betook  themselves  to  such  arts  to  fortify  their 
cause. 

When  cardinal  Campeggio  came  to  England,  he  was  received  Campeggio 
with  the  public  solemnities  ordinary  in  such  a  case ;  and,  in  his  England. 

[Oct.  9.] 


108  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

speech  cat  his  first  audience,  he  called  the  king  The  deliverer  of 
the  pope,  and  °f  the  CitU  °f  Rome,   with  the  highest  com- 
pliments that  the  occasion  did  require.     But  when  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  a  private  conference  with  the  king  and  the  cardinal, 
he  used  many  arguments  to  dissuade  the  king  from  prosecuting 
the  matter  any  further.     This  the  king  took  very  ill,  as  if  his 
errand  had  been  rather  to  confirm  than  annul  his  marriage; 
and  complained  that  the  pope  had  broken  his  word  to  him. 
And  shews  gut  the  legate  studied  to  qualify  him,  and  shewed  the  decretal 
the  bull ;     bull,  by  which  he  might  see,  that,  though  the  pope  wished 
rather  that  the  business  might  come  to  a  more  friendly  conclu- 
sion, yet  if  the  king  could  not  be  brought  to  that,  he  was  em- 
powered to  grant  him  all  that  he  desired.     But  he  could  not 
be  brought  to  part  with  the  decretal  bull  out  of  his  hands,  or  to 
But  refuses  leave  it  for  a  minute,  either  with  the  king  or  the  cardinal, 
seen  to  the  saymg»  that  ^  was  demanded  on  these  terms,  that  no  other 
council.       person  should  see  it ;  and  that  Gardiner  and  the  ambassador 
had  only  moved  to  have  it  expedited,  and  sent  by  the  legate, 
to  let  the  king  see  how  well  the  pope  was  affected  to  him. 
With  all  this  the  king  was  much  dissatisfied ;  but,  to  encourage 
him  again,  the  legate  told  him,  he  was  to  speak  to  the  queen 
in  the  pope's  name,  to  induce  her  to  enter  into  a  religious  life, 
and  to  make  the  vows.     But  when  he  proposed  that  to  her, 
she  answered   him   modestly,  that  she  could  not  dispose   of 
herself  but  by  the  advice  of  her  nephews. 
Wolsey's          Of  all  this  the  cardinal  of  York  advertised  the  Cassalis,  and 
at  Rome     ordered    them   to  use  all  possible  endeavours  that   the  bull 

that  it        might  be  shewn  to  some   of  the  king's  council.     Upon  that 

might  be  °  .  6.  L 

shewed ;      (sir  Gregory  being  then  out  ot  Rome)  the  protonotary  went  to 

£l0  ?*■  ,  the  pope,  and  complained  that  Campeggio  had  dissuaded  the 
Collect.  divorce.  The  pope  justified  him  in  it,  and  said,  He  did  as  he 
um  '  * 7'  had  ordered  him.  He  next  complained  that  the  legate  would 
not  proceed  to  execute  the  legatine  commission.  The  pope 
denied  that  he  had  any  order  from  him  to  delay  his  proceedings,  59 
but  that  by  virtue  of  his  commission  they  might  go  on  and 
pass  sentence.  Then  the  protonotary  pressed  him  for  leave 
to  shew  the  bull  to  some  of  the  king's  council,  complaining  of 
Campcggio's  stiffness  in  refusing  it,  and  that  he  would  not 
trust  it  to  the  cardinal  of  York,  who  was  his  equal  in  the  com- 
mission.    To  this  the  pope  answered  in  passion,  That  he  could 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1528.)  109 

shew  the  cardinal's  letter,  in  which  he  assures  him  that  the 
bull  should  only  be  shewed  to  the  king  and  himself ;  and  that 
if  it  were  not  granted,  he  was  ruined  ;  therefore  to  preserve 
him  he  had  sent  it,  but  had  ordered  it  to  be  burnt  when  it  was 
once  shewed.  He  wished  he  had  never  sent  it,  saying,  he 
would  gladly  lose  a  finger  to  recover  it  again,  and  expressed 
great  grief  for  granting  it ;  and  said,  They  had  got  him  to 
send  it,  and  now  would  have  it  shewed,  to  which  he  would 
never  consent,  for  then  he  was  undone  for  ever.  Upon  this, 
the  protonotary  laid  before  him  the  danger  of  losing  the  king, 
and  the  kingdom  of  England,  of  ruining  the  cardinal  of  York, 
and  of  the  undoing  of  their  family,  Avhose  hopes  depended  on 
the  cardinal ;  and  that  by  these  means  heresy  would  prevail  in 
England,  which,  if  it  once  had  got  footing  there,  would  not  be 
so  easily  rooted  out;  that  all  persons  judged  the  king's  cause 
right,  but  though  it  were  not  so,  some  things  that  were  not 
good  must  be  borne  with  to  avoid  greater  evils.  And  at  last 
he  fell  down  at  his  feet,  and  in  most  passionate  expressions 
begged  him  to  be  more  compliant  to  the  king's  desires,  and  at 
least  not  to  deny  that  small  favour  of  shewing  the  decretal  to 
some  few  counsellors,  upon  the  assurance  of  absolute  secrecy. 
But  the  pope  interrupted  him,  and  with  great  signs  of  an  But  all  in 
unusual  grief  told  him,  These  sad  effects  could  not  be  charged  Yain' 
on  him  ;  he  had  kept  his  word,  and  done  what  he  had 
promised,  but  upon  no  consideration  would  he  do  any  thing 
that  might  wound  his  conscience,  or  blemish  his  integrity : 
therefore,  let  them  proceed  as  they  would  in  England,  he 
should  be  free  of  all  blame,  but  should  confirm  their  sentence. 
And  he  protested  he  had  given  Campeggio  no  commands  to 
make  any  delays,  but  only  to  give  him  notice  of  their  proceed- 
ings. If  the  king,  who  had  maintained  the  apostolic  see,  had 
written  for  the  faith,  and  was  the  defender  of  it,  would  over- 
turn it,  it  would  end  in  his  own  disgrace.  But  at  last  the 
secret  came  out :  for  the  pope  confessed  there  was  a  league  in 
treaty  between  the  emperor  and  himself;  but  denied  that  he 
had  bound  himself  up  by  it,  as  to  the  king's  business. 

The  pope  consulted  with  the  cardinals  Sanctorum  Quatuor 
and  Simonetta,  (not  mentioning  the  decretal  to  them,  which  he 
had  granted  without  communicating  it  to  any  body,  or  entering 
it  in  any  register,)  and  they  were  of  opinion  that  the  process 


110  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

should  be  carried  on  in  England,  without  demanding  any  thing 
further  from  Rome.     But  the  imperial  cardinals  spake  against 
it,  and  were  moving  presently  for  an  inhibition,  and  an  avoca- 
tion of  the  cause,  to  be  tried  at  the  court  of  Rome.     The  pope 
also  took  notice,  that  the  intercession  of  England  and  France 
had  not  prevailed  with  the  Venetians  to  restore  Cervia  and 
Ravenna,  which  they  had  taken  from  him  ;    and  that  he  could 
not  think  that  republic  durst  do  so,  if  these  kings   were   in 
earnest.     It  had  been  promised,  that  they  should  be  restored 
as  soon  as  his  legate  was  sent  to  England  ;    but  it  was  not  yet 
done.     The  protonotary  told  him,  it  should  most  certainly  be 
done.     Thus  ended  that  conversation.     But  the  more  earnest 
the  cardinal  was  to  have  the  bull  seen  by  some  of  the  privy-  60 
council,  the  pope  was  the  more  confirmed  in  his  resolutions 
never  to  consent  to  it :    for  he  could  not  imagine  the  desire  of 
seeing  it  was  a  bare   curiosity,  or  only  to  direct  the  king's 
counsellors,  since  the  king  and  the  cardinal  could  inform  them 
of  all  the  material  clauses  that  were  in  it.    Therefore  he  judged 
the  desire  of  seeing  it  was  only  that  they  might  have  so  many 
witnesses  to  prove  that  it  was  once  granted,  whereby  they  had 
the  pope  in  their  power  ;  and  this  he  judged  too  dangerous  for 
him  to  submit  to. 
The  pope        But  the  pope,  finding  the  king  and  the  cardinal  so  ill  satisfied 
panaStc>a  "  witn  him,  resolved  to  send  Francisco  Campana,  one  of  his  bed- 
England,    chamber,  to  England,  to  remove  all  mistakes,  and  to  feed  the 
Numb.  1 8.  king  with  fresh  hopes.     In   England,  Campeggio  found   still 
means,  by  new  delays,  to  put  off  the  business,  and  amused  the 
king  with  new  and  subtle  motions  for  ending  the  matter  more 
New  am-     dextrously.     Upon  which,  in  the  beginning  of  December,  sir 
bassadors    Francis  Brian,  and  Peter  Vannes,  the  king's  secretary  for  the 
Rome,        Latin  tongue,  were  sent  to  Rome.     They  had  it  in  commission 
to  search  all  the  records  there  for  the  breve  that  was  now  so 
much  talked  of  in  Spain.     They  were  to  propose  several  over- 
With  other  tures  ;  "  Whether,  if  the  queen  vowed  religion,  the  pope  would 
overtures.    <i  noj.  dispense  with  the  king's  second   marriage  ?   Or,  if  the 
"  queen  would  not  vow  religion  unless  the  king  also  did  it, 
"  whether  in  that  case  would  the  pope  dispense  with  his  vow  ? 
"  Or  whether,  if  the  queen  would  hear  of  no  such  proposition, 
"  would  not  the   pope   dispense   with  the  king's  having  two 
"  wives,  for  which  there  were  divers  precedents  vouched  from 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.  (1528.)  Ill 

"  the  Old  Testament?"  They  were  to  represent  to  the  pope, 
that  the  king  had  laid  out  much  of  his  best  treasure  in  his 
service,  and  therefore  he  expected  the  highest  favours  out  of 
the  deepest  treasure  of  the  church.  And  Peter  Vannes  was  Collect, 
commanded  to  tell  the  pope,  as  of  himself,  that  if  he  did,  for  um  ' I9' 
partial  respects  and  fears,  refuse  the  king's  desires,  he  per- 
ceived it  would  not  only  alienate  the  king  from  him,  but  that 
many  other  princes,  his  confederates,  with  their  realms,  would 
withdraw  their  devotion  and  obedience  from  the  apostolic  see. 

By  a  despatch  that  followed  them,  the  cardinal  tried  a  new  a  guard  of 
project,  which  was  an  offer  of  two  thousand  men  for  a  guard  to  ^°°e™®" 
the  pope,  to  be  maintained  at  the  cost  of  the  king  and  his  the  pope, 
confederates.     And  also  proposed  an  interview  of  the  pope,  the 
emperor,    the   French   king,   and   the   ambassadors    of  other 
princes,  to  be  either  at  Nice,  Avignon,  or  in  Savoy ;    and  that 
himself  would  come  thither  from  the  king  of  England.     But 
the   pope   resolved    stedfastly   to  keep  his  ground,    and    not 
to  engage  himself  too  much  to    any  prince  ;    therefore   the 
motion  of  a  guard  did  not  at  all  work  upon  him.     To  have 
guards  about  him  upon  another  prince's  pay,  was  to  be  their 
prisoner  ;    and  he  was  so  weary  of  his  late  imprisonment,  that 
he  would   not  put  himself  in   hazard    of  it    a   second    time. 
Besides,  such  a  guard  would  give  the  emperor  just  cause  of 
jealousy,  and  yet  not  secure  him  against  his  power.     He  had 
been  also  so  unsuccessful  in  his  contests  with  the  emperor,  that 
he  had  no  mind  to  give  him  any  new  provocation  ;  and  though 
the  kings  of  England  and  France  gave  him  good  words,  yet 
they  did  nothing ;    nor  did   the   king  make   war    upon    the 
emperor  ;    so  that  his  armies  lying  in  Italy,  he  was  still  under 
his   power.     Therefore    the   pope   resolved    to    unite   himself  The  pope 
61  firmly  to  the  emperor ;    and  all  the  use  he  made  of  the  king's  res-+  ^J? 
earnestness  in  his  divorce,  was  only  to  bring  the  emperor  to  self  to  the 
better  terms.     The  Lutherans  in  Germany  were  like  to  make  emPeror» 
great  use  of  any  decision  he  might  make  against  any  of  his 
predecessor's  bulls.     The  cardinal  elector  of  Mentz  had  written 
to  him  to  consider  well  what  he  did  in  the  king's  divorce ;    for 
if  it  went  on,  nothing  had  ever  fallen  out  since  the  beginning 
of  Luther's  sect,  that  would   so  much  strengthen  it  as  that 
sentence.     He  was   also  threatened  on  the  other  side  from 
Rome,  that  the  emperor  would  have  a  general  council  called. 


112  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part 

and  whatsoever  he  did  in  this  process  should  be   examined 
Being         there,  and  be  proceeded  against  accordingly.     Nor  did  they 
with  the  ^    forget  to  put  him  in  mind  of  his  birth,  that  he  was  a  bastard, 
threats  of    and  so  by  the  canon  incapable  of  that  dignity,  and  that  tliere- 
rialists.       upon  they  would  depose  him.     He,  having  all  these  things  in 
his  prospect,  and  being  naturally  of  a  fearful  temper,  which 
was  at  this  time  more  prevalent  in  him  by  reason  of  his  late 
captivity,  resolved  not  to   run  these  hazards,  which  seemed 
unavoidable,  if  he  proceeded  further  in  the  king's   business. 
But  his  constant  maxim  being  to  promise  and  swear  deepest 
when  he  intended  least,  he  sent  Cainpana  to  England,  with 
a  letter  of  credence  to  the  cardinal,  the  effects  of  which  message 
will  appear  afterwards.     And  thus  ended  this  year,  in  which  it 
was  believed,  that  if  the  king  had  employed  that  money,  which 
was  spent  in  a  fruitless  negociation  at  Rome,  on  a  war  in 
Flanders,  it  had  so  distracted  the  emperor's  forces,  and  en- 
couraged the  pope,  that  he  had  sooner  granted  that,  which  in 
a  more  fruitless  way  was  sought  of  him. 
1529.  In  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  Cassali  wrote  to  the  car- 

[Herbert     dinal,  that  the  pope  was  much  inclined  to  unite  himself  with 
p.  260.]       the  emperor,  and  proposed  to  go  in  person  to  Spain,  to  solicit 
a  general  peace ;  but  intended  to  go  privately,  and  desired  the 
cardinal  would  go  with  him  thither,  as  his  friend  and  coun- 
sellor, and  that  they  two  should  go  as  legates.     But  Cassali, 
by  Salviati's  means,  who  was  in  great  favour  with  the  pope, 
understood  that  the  pope  was  never  in  greater  fear  of  the 
emperor  than  at  that  time ;  for  his  ambassador  had  threatened 
the  pope  severely,  if  he  would  not  recal  the  commission  that 
he  had  sent  to  England;  so  that  the  pope  spoke  oft  to  Salviati 
Repents      °f  the  great  repentance  that  he  had  inwardly  in  his  heart  for 
his  grant-    granting  the  decretal :  and  said,  He  was  undone  for  ever,  if 

ingthede-^  J  ,     _  '  __        .  1       ,      , 

cretal.         it  came  to  the  emperors  knowledge.     He  also  resolved,  that, 

though  the  legates  gave  sentence  in  England,  it  should  never 

take  effect,  for  he  would  not  confirm  it :    of  which  Gregory 

King's  let-  Cassali  gave  advertisement  by  an  express  messenger,  who,  as 

ter  to  the    ]ie  passed  through  Paris,   met  secretary  Knight  and  doctor 

cardinal 

Jan.  8.  '  Bennct,  whom  the  king  had  despatched  to  Rome  to  assist  his 
other  ambassadors  there,  and  gave  them  an  account  of  his  mes- 
sage ;  and  that  it  was  the  advice  of  the  king's  friends  at  Rome, 
That  he  and  his  confederates  should  follow  the  war  more  vigor- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  113 

ously,  and  press  the  emperor  harder,  without  which  all  their 
applications  to  the  pope  would  signify  nothing.  Of  this  they 
gave  the  cardinal  an  account,  and  went  on  but  faintly  in  their 
journey,  judging  that  upon  these  advertisements  they  would 
be  recalled,  and  other  counsels  taken. 

At  the  same  time  the  pope  was  with  his  usual  arts  cajoling  Jan.  9. 
the  king's  agents  in  Italy :  for  when  sir  Francis  Brian  and 
Peter  Vannes  came  to  Bologna,  the  protonotary  Cassali  was 
surprised  to  hear  that  the  business  was  not  already  ended  in 
62  England :  since,  he  said,  he  knew  there  were  sufficient  powers 
sent  about  it,  and  that  the  pope  assured  him  he  would  confirm 
their  sentence ;  but  that  he  made  a  great  difference  between 
the  confirming  their  judgment,  by  which  he  had  the  legates 
between  him  and  the  envy  or  odium  of  it,  and  the  granting  a 
bull,  by  which  the  judgment  should  arise  immediately  from 
himself.  This  his  best  friends  dissuaded;  and  he  seemed  ap- 
prehensive, that  in  case  he  should  do  it,  a  council  would  be 
called,  and  he  should  be  deposed  for  it.  And  any  such  dis- 
traction in  the  papacy,  considering  the  footing  which  heresy 
had  already  gotten,  wTould  ruin  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and  the 
church :  so  dextrously  did  the  pope  govern  himself  between 
such  contrary  tides.  But  all  this  dissimulation  was  short  of 
what  he  acted  by  Campana  in  England,  whose  true  errand 
thither  was  to  order  Campeggio  to  destroy  the  bull ;  but  he 
did  so  persuade  the  king  and  the  cardinal  of  the  pope's  sin- 
cerity, that,  by  a  despatch  to  sir  Francis  Brian,  and  Peter  Jan.  15. 
Vannes,  and  sir  Gregory  Cassali,  he  chid  the  two  former  for 
not  making  more  haste  to  Rome ;  for  he  believed  it  might 
have  been  a  great  advantage  to  the  king's  affairs,  if  they  had 
got  thither  before  the  general  of  the  Observants,  (then  car- 
dinal Angel.)  He  ordered  them  to  settle  the  business  of  the 
guard  about  the  pope  presently,  and  tells  them,  that  the  secre- 
tary was  recalled,  and  Dr.  Stevens  again  sent  to  Rome :  and 
in  a  letter  to  secretary  Knight,  who  went  no  further  than 
Lyons,  he  writ  to  him,  "  That  Campana  had  assured  the  king  But  feeds 
"  and  him,  in  the  pope's  name,  that  the  pope  was  ready  to  do,  .!Amg, 
"  not  only  all  that  of  law,  equity,  or  justice  could  be  desired  promises. 
"  of  him,  but  whatever  of  the  fulness  of  Ids  power  he  could 
"  do  or  devise,  for  giving  the  kino-  content :  and  that,  although 
"  there  were  three  things  which  the  pope  had  great  reason  to 

BURNET,  PART  1.  I 


114  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti 

"  take  care  of ;  the  calling  a  general  council,  the  emperor's 
"  descent  into  Italy,  and  the  restitution  of  his  towns,  which 
"  were  offered  to  be  put  in  his  hands  by  the  emperor's  means ; 
"  yet  neither  these,  nor  any  other  consideration,  should  divert 
"  him  from  doing  all  that  lay  within  his  authority  or  power 
"  for  the  king  :  and  that  he  had  so  deep  a  sense  of  the  king's 
"  merits,  and  the  obligations  that  he  had  laid  on  him,  that  if 
"  his  resignation  of  the  popedom  might  do  him  any  service,  he 
"  would  readily  consent  to  it :  and  therefore  in  the  pope's 
"  name  he  encouraged  the  legates  to  proceed  and  end  the 
"  business." 

Upon  these  assurances  the  cardinal  ordered  the  secretary  to 
haste  forward  to  Rome,  and  to  thank  the  pope  for  that  kind 
message,  to  settle  the  guard  about  him,  and  to  tell  him,  that 
for  a  council,  none  could  be  called  but  by  himself,  with  the 
consent  of  the  kings  of  England  and  France.  And  for  any 
pretended  council  or  meeting  of  bishops,  which  the  emperor 
by  the  cardinals  of  his  party  might  call,  he  needed  not  fear 
that :  for  his  towns,  they  should  be  most  certainly  restored. 
Nor  was  the  emperor's  offering  to  put  them  in  his  hand  to  be 
much  regarded ;  for  though  he  restored  them,  if  the  pope  had 
not  a  better  guarantee  for  them,  it  would  be  easy  for  him  to 
take  them  from  him  when  he  pleased.  He  was  also  to  propose 
a  firmer  league  between  the  pope,  England,  and  France ;  in 
order  to  which,  he  was  to  move  the  pope  most  earnestly  to  go 
to  Nice  :  and  if  the  pope  proposed  the  king's  taking  a  second 
wife,  with  a  legitimation  of  the  issue  which  she  might  have,  so 
the  queen  might  be  induced  to  enter  into  a  state  of  religion,  to 
which  the  pope  inclined  most,  he  was  not  to  accept  of  that ; 
both  because  the  thing  would  take  up  much  time,  and  they  63 
found  the  queen  resolved  to  do  nothing  but  as  she  was  advised 
by  her  nephews.  Yet  if  the  pope  offered  a  decretal  about  it, 
he  might  take  it,  to  be  made  use  of  as  the  occasion  might  re- 
quire. But  by  a  postscript  he  is  recalled,  and  it  is  signified  to 
him,  that  Gardiner  was  sent  to  Rome  to  negotiate  these  affairs, 
who  had  returned  to  England  with  the  legate ;  and  his  being 
so  successful  in  his  former  message  made  them  think  him  the 
fittest  minister  they  could  employ  in  that  court ;  and  to  send 
him  with  the  greater  advantage,  he  was  made  a  privy 
counsellor. 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  115 

But  an  unlooked-for  accident  put  a  stop  to  all  proceedings  The  pope 
in  the  court  of  Rome ;  for  on  Epiphany-day  the  pope  was  s" 
taken  extreme  ill  at  mass,  and  a  great  sickness  followed,  of 
which  it  was  generally  believed  he  could  not  recover ;  and 
though  his  distemper  did  soon  abate  so  much,  that  it  was 
thought  to  be  over,  yet  it  returned  again  upon  him,  insomuch 
that  the  physicians  did  suspect  he  was  poisoned.  Then  followed 
all  the  secret  caballings  and  intrigues,  which  are  ordinary  in 
that  court  upon  such  an  occasion.  The  Colonnas  and  the  other 
imperialists  were  very  busy,  but  the  cardinal  of  Mantua  op- 
posed them  ;  and  Farnese,  who  was  then  at  his  house  in  the 
country,  came  to  Rome  and  joined  with  Mantua  ;  and  these  of 
that  faction  resolved,  that,  if  the  Spanish  army  marched  from 
Naples  toward  them,  they  would  dispense  with  that  bull  which 
provides  that  the  succeeding  pope  should  be  chosen  in  the 
same  place  where  the  former  died,  and  would  retire  to  some 
safe  place.  Some  of  the  cardinals  spoke  highly  in  favour  of  J.™.  27. 
cardinal  Wolsey,  whom  (if  the  ambassadors  did  not  flatter  and 
lie  grossly  in  their  letters,  from  which  I  draw  these  informa- 
tions) they  reverenced  as  a  deity.  And  the  cardinal  of  Man- 
tua, it  seems,  proposing  him  as  a  pattern,  would  needs  have  a 
particular  account  of  his  whole  course  of  life,  and  expressed 
great  esteem  for  him.  When  Gardiner  was  come  as  far  as 
Lyons,  he  wrote  the  cardinal  word,  that  there  went  a  prophecy 
that  an  angel  should  be  the  next  pope,  but  should  die  soon 
after.  He  also  gave  advice,  that,  if  the  pope  died,  the  com- 
mission for  the  legates  must  needs  expire  with  him,  unless  they 
made  some  step  in  their  business,  by  a  citation  of  parties, 
which  would  keep  it  alive ;  but  whether  this  was  done  or  not 

I  cannot  find.     The  cardinal's  ambition  was  now  fermenting  Cardinal 

\v  1 
strongly,  and  he  resolved  to  lay  his  project  for  the  popedom  i,,^!,^ 

better  than  he  had  done  before.     His  letter  about  it  to  Gar-  for  the 
diner,  and  the   king's   instructions  to   his  ambassadors,   are  p^X 
printed  by  Fox,  and  the  originals  from  which  they  are  taken  [Fox,vol.ii. 
are  yet  extant.     He  wrote  also  another  letter  to  the  ambassa- 
dors, which  the  reader  will  find  in  the  Collection.     But,  be-  Collect, 
cause  the  instructions  shew  what  were  the  methods  in  choosing 
popes  in  these  days,  by  which  it  may  be  easily  gathered  how 
such  an  election  must  needs  recommend  a  man  to  infallibility. 

1  2 


116  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

supremacy,  ami  all  the  other  appendages  of  Christ's  vicar  on 
earth,  I  shall  give  a  short  summary  of  them. 

"  By  his  letter  to  his  confidant  Gardiner,  he  commits  the 

"  thing  chiefly  to  his  care,  and  orders  him  to  employ  all  his 

"  parts  to  bring  it  to  the  desired  issue,  sparing  neither  presents 

"  nor  promises ;  and  that  as  he  saw  men's  inclinations  or  affec- 

"  tions  led  them,  whether  to  public  or  private  concerns,  so  he 

The  king's  "  should  govern  himself  towards  them  accordingly.      The  in-  64 

tions  for  the  "  struetions  bear,  that  the  king  thought  the  cardinal  the  fittest 

election,      tt  person  t0  succeed  to  the  papacy ;  (they  being  advertised  that 

MSS.  "  the  pope  was  dead ;)  that  the  French  king  did  also  of  his 

xi  fol  67 1  "  own  mo^on  °ffer  ms  assistance  to  him  in  it,  and  that,  both 

"  for  public  and  private  ends,  the   cardinal  was  the  fittest. 

"  Therefore  the  ambassadors  are   required  with  all  possible 

"  earnestness  and  vigour  to  promote  his  election.     A  schedule 

"  of  the  cardinals'  names  is  sent  them,  with  marks  to  every 

"  one,  whether  he  was  like  to  be  present  or  absent;  favour- 

"  able,  indifferent,  or  opposite  to  them.    It  was  reckoned  there 

"  could  be  but  thirty-nine  present,  of  which  twenty-six  were 

"  necessary  to  choose   the    pope.      Of  these  the  two  kings 

"  thought  themselves  sure  of  twenty.      So  six  was  all  the 

"  number   that  the  ambassadors  were  to   gain,  and  to  that 

"  number  they  were  first  to  offer  them  good  reasons  to  con- 

"  vince  them   of  the  cardinal's  fitness  for  the  papacy.      But 

"  because  human  frailty  was  such,  that  reason  did  not  always 

"  take  place,  they  were  to  promise  promotions  and  sums  of 

"  money,  with  other  good  rewards,  which  the  king  gave  them 

"  commission  to  offer,  and  would  certainly  make  them  good : 

"  besides  all  the  great  preferments  which  the  cardinal  had, 

"  that  should  be   shared  among  those   who  did  procure  his 

"  election.     The  cardinals  of  their  party  were  first  to  enter 

"  into  a  firm  bond,  to  exclude  all  others.     They  were  also  to 

"  have  some  creatures  of  theirs  to  go  into  the  conclave,   to 

"  manage  the  business.      Sir  Gregory  Cassali  was   thought 

"  fittest  for  that  service.     And  if  they  saw  the  adverse  party 

"  too  strong  in  the  conclave,  so  that  they  could  carry  nothing, 

"  then  Gardiner  was  to  draw  a  protestation,  which  should  be 

"  made  in  name  of  the  two  crowns ;  and  that  being  made,  all 

"  the  cardinals  of  their  faction  were  to  leave  the  conclave. 

"  And  if  the  fear  of  the  emperor's  forces  overawed  them,  the 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  117 

"  ambassadors  were  to  offer  a  guard  of  two  or  three  thousand 
"  men  to  secure  the  cardinals  :  and  the  French  king  ordered 
"  his  armies  to  move,  if  the  Spanish  troops  did  move  cither 
"  from  Naples  or  Milan.  They  were  also  to  assure  them,  that 
"  the  cardinal  would  presently  upon  his  election  come  and  live 
"  at  Rome,  and  were  to  use  all  endeavours  to  gain  the  cardinal 
"  de  Medici  to  their  faction  ;  but  at  the  same  time  to  assure 
"  the  Florentines,  that  Wolsey  would  assist  them  to  exclude 
"  the  Medici  out  of  the  government  of  their  town  and  state. 
"  They  were  also  to  have  a  strict  eye  upon  the  motions  of  the 
"  French  faction,  lest,  if  the  cardinal  were  excluded,  they 
"  should  consent  to  any  other,  and  refuse  to  make  the  pro- 
"  testation  as  it  was  desired.  But  to  oblige  Campeggio  the 
"  more,  it  was  added,  that  if  they  found  all  hopes  of  raising 
"  the  cardinal  of  York  to  vanish,  then  they  should  try  if 
"  Campeggio  could  be  elected ;  and  in  that  case  the  cardinals 
"  of  their  faction  were  to  make  no  protestation." 

These  were  the  apostolical  methods  then  used  for  choosing  a 
successor  to  St.  Peter ;  for  though  a  successor  had  been  chosen 
to  Judas  by  lot,  yet  more  caution  was  to  be  used  in  choosing 
one  for  the  Prince  of  the  apostles.  But  when  the  cardinal 
heard  that  the  pope  was  not  dead,  and  that  there  was  hope  of 
his  recovery,  he  wrote  another  long  letter  to  the  ambassadors, 
(the  original  of  which  is  yet  extant,)  "  to  keep  all  their  in- 
"  structions  about  a  new  pope  very  secret,  to  be  gaining  as 
"  many  cardinals  as  they  could,  and  to  take  care  that  the  car- 
(55  "  dinals  should  not  go  into  the  conclave,  unless  they  were  free 

,;  and  safe  from  any  fears  of  the  imperial  forces.     But  if  the  Feb.  20. 

"  pope  recovered,  they  were  to  press  hiin  to  give  such  orders  pOBitiona 

"  about  the  king's  business,  that  it  might  be  speedily  ended  :  about  the 

"  and  then  the  cardinal  would  come  and  wait  on  the  pope  over 

"  to  Spain,  as  he  had  proposed.     And  for  the  apprehensions 

"  the  pope  had  of  the  emperor's  being  highly  offended  with 

"  him  if  he  granted  the  king's  desire,  or  of  his  coming  into 

"  Italy,  he  needed  not  fear  him.     They  knew,  whatever  the 

"  emperor  pretended  about  his  obligation  to  protect  his  aunt, 

"  it  was  only  for  reason  of  state  :  but  if  he  were  satisfied  in  other 

•'  things,  that  would  be  soon  passed  over.      They  knew  also 

'•  that  his  design  of  going  into  Italy  was  laid  aside  for  that 

"  year,   because   he   apprehended  that  France  and  England 

"  would  make  war  on  him  in  other  places.     There  were  also 


118  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  many  precedents  found,  of  dispensations  granted  by  popes  in 
"  like  cases  :  and  lately  there  had  been  one  granted  by  pope 
"  Alexander  the  Sixth  to  the  king  of  Hungary,  against  the 
"  opinion  of  his  cardinals,  which  had  never  been  questioned ;" 
and  yet  he  could  not  pretend  to  such  merits  as  the  king  had. 
And  all  that  had  ever  been  said  in  the  king's  cause  was  summed 
up  in  a  short  breviate  by  Cassali,  and  offered  to  the  pope ;  a 

Collect.       copy  whereof,  taken  from  an  original  under  his  own  hand,  the 

Numb.  21.  reacjer  wiU  mic|  m  the  Collection. 

The  king  ordered  his  ambassadors  to  make  as  many  car- 
dinals sure  for  his  cause  as  they  could,  who  might  bring  the 
pope  to  consent  to  it,  if  he  were  still  averse.  But  the  pope 
was  at  this  time  possessed  with  a  new  jealousy,  of  which  the 
French  king  was  not  free,  as  if  the  king  had  been  tampering 
with  the  emperor,  and  had  made  him  great  offers,  so  he  would 
consent  to  the  divorce ;  about  which  Francis  wrote  an  anxious 
letter  to  Rome,  the  original  of  which  I  have  seen.  The  pope 
was  also  surprised  at  it,  and  questioned  the  ambassadors  about 
it ;  but  they  denied  it,  and  said  the  union  between  England 
and  France  was  inseparable,  and  that  these  were  only  the 
practices  of  the  emperor's  agents  to  create  distrust.  The  pope 
seemed  satisfied  with  what  they  said,  and  added,  "  that  in  the 
"  present  conjuncture  a  firm  union  between  them  was  neces- 


ee  r. 


sary. 


Of  all  this  sir  Francis  Brian  wrote  a  lonjr  account  in 


cipher. 
The  pope's       But  the  pope's  relapse  put  a  new  stop  to  business ;  of  which 
a  apse        ^e  cardinal  being  informed,  as  he  ordered  the  king's  agents  to 

continue  their  care  about  his  promotion,  so  he  charged  them  to 
April  6.       see  if  it  were  "  possible  to  get  access  to  the  pope,  and  though 

"  he  wrere  in  the  very  agony  of  death,  to  propose  two  things 

Another      "  to  him  :  the  one,  that  he  would  presently  command  all  the 

despatch  to  .<  prmces  of  Christendom  to  agree  to  a  cessation  of  arms,  under 
Home.  r  o  ' 

Collect.  "  pain  of  the  censures  of  the. church,  as  pope  Leo  and  other 
"  popes  had  done  ;  and  if  he  should  die,  he  could  not  do  a 
"  thing  that  would  be  more  meritorious,  and  for  the  good  of 
"  his  soul,  than  to  make  that  the  last  act  of  his  life.  The 
"  other  thing  was  concerning  the  king's  business,  which  he 
"  prcsseth  as  a  thing  necessary  to  be  done  for  the  clearing 
"  and  case  of  the  pope's  conscience  towards  God  :  and  withal 
"  he  orders  them  to  gain  as  many  about  the  pope,  and  as 
"  many  cardinals  and  officers  in   the  Rota  as  they  could,  to 


book  il]  THE   REFORMATION.    (1529.)  119 

66  "  promote  the  king's  desires,  whether  in  the  pope's  sickness  or 
"  health.  The  bishop  of  Verona  had  a  great  interest  with  the 
"  pope  ;  so  by  that,  and  another  despatch  of  the  same  date, 
"  (sent  another  way,)  they  were  ordered  to  gain  him,  promis- 
"  ing  him  great  rewards,  pressing  him  to  remain  still  about  the 
"  pope's  person ;  to  balance  the  ill  offices  which  cardinal  Angel 
"  and  the  archbishop  of  Capua  did,  who  never  stirred  from  the 
"  pope  ;  and  to  assure  that  bishop,  that  the  king  laid  this 
"  matter  more  to  heart  than  any  thing  that  ever  befell  him ; 
"  and  that  it  would  trouble  him  as  much  to  be  overcome  in 
"  this  matter  by  these  two  friars,  as  to  lose  both  his  crowns  : 
"  and  for  my  part,  (writes  the  cardinal,)  I  would  expose  any 
"  thing  to  my  life,  yea  life  itself,  rather  than  see  the  incon- 
"  veniences  that  may  ensue  upon  disappointing  of  the  king's 
"  desire."  For  promoting  the  business,  the  French  king  sent 
the  bishop  of  Bayonne  to  assist  the  English  ambassadors  in  his 
name,  who  was  first  sent  over  to  England  to  be  well  instructed 
there.  They  were  either  to  procure  a  decretal  for  the  king's 
divorce,  or  a  new  commission  to  the  two  legates,  with  ampler 
clauses  in  it  than  the  former  had ;  "  to  judge  as  if  the  pope 
"  were  in  person,  and  to  emit  compulsory  letters  against  any, 
"  whether  emperor,  king,  or  of  what  degree  soever  :  to  pro- 
"  duce  all  manner  of  evidences  or  records  which  might  tend 
"  towards  the  clearing  the  matter,  and  to  bring  them  before 
"  them."  This  was  sought  because  the  emperor  would  not  send 
over  the  pretended  original  breve  to  England,  and  gave  only 
an  attested  copy  of  it  to  the  king's  ambassadors  :  lest  therefore 
from  that  breve  a  new  suit  might  be  afterwards  raised  for 
annulling  any  sentence  which  the  legates  should  give,  they 
thought  it  needful  to  have  the  original  brought  before  them. 
In  the  penning  of  that  new  commission,  Dr.  Gardiner  was 
ordered  to  have  special  care  that  it  should  be  done  by  the 
best  advice  he  could  get  in  Rome.  It  appears  also  from  this 
despatch,  that  the  pope's  pollicitation  to  confirm  the  sentence 
which  the  legates  should  give,  was  then  in  Gardiner's  hands ; 
for  he  was  ordered  to  take  care  that  there  might  be  no  dis- 
agreement between  the  date  of  it  and  of  the  new  commission. 
And  when  that  was  obtained,  sir  Francis  Brian  was  commanded 
to  bring  them  with  him  to  England.  Or  if  neither  a  decretal 
nor  a  new  commission  could  be  obtained,  then,  if  any  other 
expedient  were  proposed  that   upon  good  advice  should  be 


120  TILE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

found  sufficient  and  effectual,  they  were  to  accept  of  it,  and 
send  it  away  with  all  possible  diligence.  And  the  cardinal 
conjured  them,  "  by  the  reverence  of  Almighty  God,  to  bring 
"  them  out  of  their  perplexity,  that  this  virtuous  prince  may 
"  have  this  thing  sped,  which  would  be  the  most  joyous  thing 
"  that  could  befall  his  heart  upon  earth.  But  if  all  things 
"  should  be  denied,  then  they  were  to  make  their  protestations, 
"  not  only  to  the  pope,  but  to  the  cardinals,  of  the  injustice 
"  that  was  done  the  king  ;  and  in  the  cardinal's  name  to  let 
"  them  know,  that  not  only  the  king  and  his  realm  would  be 
"  lost,  but  also  the  French  king  and  his  realm,  with  their  other 
"  confederates,  would  also  withdraw  their  obedience  from  the 
"  see  of  Rome,  which  was  more  to  be  regarded  than  either 
"  the  emperor's  displeasure,  or  the  recovery  of  two  cities." 
They  were  also  to  try  what  might  be  done  in  law  by  the  car- 
dinals in  a  vacancy,  and  they  were  to  take  good  counsel  upon 
some  chapters  of  the  canon  law  which  related  to  that,  and 
govern  themselves  accordingly,  either  to  hinder  an  avocation  67 
or  inhibition,  or,  if  it  could  be  done,  to  obtain  such  things  as 
they  could  grant,  towards  the  conclusion  of  the  king's  business. 
The  cardi-  At  this  time  also  the  cardinal's  bulls  for  the  bishopric  of  Win- 
for  the  bi-   chester  were  expedited  ;  they  were  rated  high  at  fifteen  thou- 

shopric  of    san(j  ducats ;  for  though  the  cardinal  pleaded  his  great  merits, 
Winches-  '  .  .        ,  ,  ,-      i  n  • , 

ter.  to  bring  the  composition  lower,  yet  the  cardinals  at  Rome  said 

• ymeiR'7 1  ^e  aPostolic  chamber  was  very  poor,  and  other  bulls  were  then 
coming  from  France,  to  which  the  favour  they  should  shew  the 
cardinal  would  be  a  precedent.  But  the  cardinal  sent  word, 
that  he  would  not  give  past  five  or  six  thousand  ducats,  because 
he  was  exchanging  Winchester  for  Durham  ;  and  by  the  other 
they  were  to  get  a  great  composition.  And  if  they  held  his 
bulls  so  high,  he  would  not  have  them ;  for  he  needed  them 
not,  since  he  enjoyed  already,  by  the  king's  grant,  the  tem- 
poralities of  Winchester ;  which  it  is  very  likely  was  all  that 
he  considered  in  a  bishopric.  They  were  at  last  expedited,  at 
what  rates  I  cannot  tell ;  but  this  I  set  down  to  shew  how 
severe  the  exactions  of  the  court  of  Rome  were. 
The  pope  As  the  pope  recovered  his  health,  so  he  inclined  more  to 
join  with  jom  himself  to  the  emperor  than  ever,  and  was  more  alienated 
the  empe-  than  formerly  from  the  king  and  the  cardinal ;  which  perhaps 
was  increased  by  the  distaste  he  took  at  the  cardinal's  aspiring 
to  the  popedom.     The  first  thing  that  the  emperor  did  in  the 


book  ii.]  THE    REFORMATION.    (1529.)  121 

king's  cause  was,  to  protest  in  the  queen  of  England's  name,  Who  pro- 
that  she  refused  to  submit  to  the  legates  :  the  one  was  the  ^nst  the 
king's  chief  minister,  and  her  mortal  enemy  ;  the  other  was  legate's 
also  justly  suspected,  since  he  had  a  bishopric  in  England.  sion< 
The  king's  ambassador  pressed  the  pope  much  not  to  admit  the  May  '5- 
protestation  ;   but  it  was  pretended  that  it  could  not  be  denied, 
either  in  law  or  justice.     But  that  this  might  not  offend  the 
king,  Salviati,  that  was  the  pope's  favourite,  wrote  to  Campeg- 
gio  that  the  protestation  could  not  be  hindered,  but  that  the 
pope  did  still  most  earnestly  desire  to  satisfy  the  king,  and 
that  the  ambassadors  were  much  mistaken,  who  were  so  dis- 
trustful of  the  pope's  good  mind  to  the  king's  cause.     But  now 
good  words  could  deceive  the  king  no  longer,  who  clearly  dis- 
covered the  pope's  mind ;  and  being  out  of  all  hopes  of  any 
thing  more  from  Rome,  resolved  to  proceed  in  England  before 
the  legates  ;   and  therefore   Gardiner  was  recalled,  who  was 
thought  the  fittest  person  to  manage  the  process  in  England, 
being   esteemed  the  greatest   canonist   they    had ;    and    was 
so  valued  by  the  king,  that  he  would  not  begin  the  process  till 
he  came.     Sir  Francis  Brian  was  also  recalled.     And  when  Collect, 
they  took  leave  of  the  pope,  they  were  ordered  to  expostulate, 
in  the  king's  name,  "  upon  the  partiality  he  expressed  for  the 
"  emperor,  notwithstanding  the  many  assurances  that  both  the 
"  legates  had  given  the  king,  that  the  pope  would  do  all  he 
"  could  toward  his  satisfaction  ;  which  was  now  so  ill  performed, 
"  that  he  expected  no  more  justice  from  him.     They  were  also 
"  to  say  as  much  as  they  could  devise  in  the  cardinal's  name  to 
•'  the  same  purpose ;  upon  which  they  were  to  try  if  it  were 
"  possible  to  obtain  any  enlargement  of  the  commission,  with 
"  fuller  power  to  the  legates ;"   for  they  saw  it  was  in  vain  to 
move  for  any  new  bulls  or  orders  from  the  pope  about  it.     And 
though  Gardiner  had  obtained  a  pollicitation  from  the  pope,  by  The  pope 
68  which  he    both  bound  himself  not  to    recal   the  cause  from  not^re- 
the  legates,  and  also  to  confirm  their  sentence,  and  had  sent  it  cal>  }mt  *° 
over ;    they  found  it  was  so  conceived,  that  the  pope  could  go 
back  from  it  when  he  pleased.     So  there  was  a  new  draught  of 
a  pollicitation  formed,  with  more  binding  clauses  in  it,  which 
Gardiner  was  to  try  if  he  could  obtain  by  the  following  pre- 
tence :  "  He  was  to  tell  the  pope,  that  the  courier  to  whom  he 
"  trusted  it,  had  been  so  little  careful  of  it,  that  it  was  all  wet 
"  and  defaced,    and  of  no  more  use  :   so  that  he  durst  not 


122  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  deliver  it.  And  this  might  turn  much  to  Gardiner's  preju- 
"  dice,  that  a  matter  of  such  concern  was  through  his  neglect 
"  spoiled  ;  upon  which  he  was  to  see  if  the  pope  would  renew 
"  it.  If  that  could  be  obtained,  he  was  to  use  all  his  industry 
"  to  get  as  many  pregnant  and  material  words  added,  as  might 
"  make  it  more  binding.  He  was  also  to  assure  the  pope,  that 
"  though  the  emperor  was  gone  to  Barcelona  to  give  reputa- 
"  tion  to  his  affairs  in  Italy,  yet  he  had  neither  army  nor  fleet 
"  ready  ;  so  that  they  needed  not  fear  him.  And  he  was  to 
"  inform  the  pope  of  the  arts  he  was  using  both  in  the  English 
"  and  French  courts  to  make  a  separate  treaty ;  but  that  all 
"  was  to  no  purpose,  the  two  kings  being  so  firmly  linked 
"  together."  But  the  pope  was  so  great  a  master  in  all  the 
arts  of  dissimulation  and  policy,  that  he  was  not  to  be  over- 
reached easily ;  and  when  he  understood  that  his  pollicitation 
was  defaced,  he  was  in  his  heart  glad  at  it,  and  could  not 
be  prevailed  with  to  renew  it.  So  they  returned  to  England, 
The  le-        and  j)r#  Bonnet  came  in  their  place.     He  carried  with  him  one 

gates  write  .  l  i         -r  /»     j  •        ■•  ■ 

to  the         oi  the  tullest  and  most  important  despatches  that  1  find  in  tins 
pope.  whole  matter,  from  the  two  legates  to  the  pope  and  the  con- 

Collect,  sistory ;  who  wrote  to  them,  "  That  they  had  in  vain  en- 
"  deavoured  to  persuade  either  party  to  yield  to  the  other ; 
"  that  the  breve  being  shewed  to  them  by  the  queen,  they 
"  found  great  and  evident  presumptions  of  its  being  a  mere 
"  forgery  ;  and,  that  they  thought  it  was  too  much  for  them  to 
"  sit  and  try  the  validity  or  authenticalness  of  the  pope's  bulls 
"  or  breves,  or  to  hear  his  power  of  dispensing  in  such  cases 
"  disputed :  therefore  it  was  more  expedient  to  avocate  the 
"  cause,  to  which  the  king  would  consent,  if  the  pope  obliged 
"  himself,  under  his  hand,  to  pass  sentence  speedily  in  his 
"  favour  :  but  they  rather  advised  the  granting  a  decretal  bull, 
"  which  would  put  an  end  to  the  whole  matter  ;  in  order  to 
"  which,  the  bearer  was  instructed  to  shew  very  good  pre- 
"  cedents.  But,  in  the  mean  while,  they  advised  the  pope  to 
"  press  the  queen  most  effectually  to  enter  into  a  religious  life, 
"  as  that  which  would  compose  all  these  differences  in  the 
"  softest  and  easiest  way.  It  pitied  them  to  see  the  rack  and 
"  torments  of  conscience  under  which  the  king  had  smarted  so 
"  many  years ;  and  that  the  disputes  of  divines,  and  the 
"  decrees  of  lathers,  had  so  disquieted  him,  that,  for  clearing  a 
"  matter  thus  perplexed,  there  was  not  only  need  of  learning, 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  123 

'  but  of  a  more  singular  piety  and  illumination.    To  this  were  to 

'  be  added,  the  desire  of  issue,  the  settlement  of  the  kingdom, 

'  with  many  other  pressing  reasons  ;  that  as  the  matter  did 

'  admit  of  no  further  delays,  so  there  was  not  any  thing  in 

'  the  opposite  scale  to  balance  these  considerations.     There 

'  were  false  suggestions  surmised  abroad,  as   if  the   hatred 

'  of  the  queen,  or  the  desire  of  another  wife,  (who  was  not 

'  perhaps  yet  known,  much  less  designed,)  were  the  true  causes 

•'  of  this  suit.     But  though  the  queen  was  of  a  rough  temper, 

and  an  unpleasant  conversation,  and  was  passed  all  hopes  of 

children ;    yet  who  could  imagine  that  the  king,  who   had 

spent  his  most  youthful  days  with  her  so  kindly,  would  now, 

in  the  decline  of  his  age,  be  at  all  this  trouble  to  be  rid  of 

her,  if  he  had  no  other  motives  ?    But  they,  by  searching  his 

sore,  found  there  was  rooted  in  his  heart,  both  an  awe  of 

God,  and  a  respect  to  law  and  order  ;    so  that  though  all  his 

people  pressed  him  to   drive  the  matter  to  an  issue,  yet 

he   would    still  wait  for  the  decision   of  the  apostolic  see. 

Therefore  they  most  pressingly  desire  the  pope  to  grant  the 

cure  which  his  distemper  required,  and  to  consider,  that  it 

was  not  fit  to  insist  too  much  on  the  rigour  of  the  law :  but 

since  the  soul  and  life  of  all  the  laws  of  the  church  was  in  the 

pope's   breast,   in    doubtful   cases,   where   there   was   great 

hazard,  he  ought  to  mollify  the  severity  of  the  laws ;  which 

if  it  were  not  done,  other  remedies  would  be  found  out,  to 

the  vast  prejudice  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority,  to  which 

many  about  the  king  advised  him  :  there  was  reason  to  fear 

they  should  not  only  lose  a  king  of  England,  but  a  Defender 

of  the  Faith.    The  nobility  and  gentry  were  already  enraged 

at  the  delay  of  a  matter  in  which  all  their  lives  and  interests 

were  so  nearly  concerned ;  and  said  many  things  against  the 

pope's  proceedings,    which    they  could   not    relate    without 

horror.     And  they  plainly  complained,  that  whereas  popes 

had  made  no  scruple  to  make  and  change  divine  laws  at 

their  pleasure ;  yet  one  pope  sticks  so  much  at  the  repealing 

what  his  predecessor  did,  as  if  that  were  more  sacred,  and 

not  to  be  meddled  with.     The  king  betook  himself  to  no  ill 

arts,  neither  to  the  charms  of  magicians,  nor  the  forgeries  of 

impostors ;  therefore  they  expected  such  an  answer  as  should 

put  an  end  to  the  whole  matter." 

But  all  these  things  were  to  no  purpose  ;  the  pope  had  taken 


124  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  ] 

Campeg-     his  measures,  and  was  not  to  be  moved  by  all  the  reasons  or 

gio's  ill  life.  .  ,  .  liit*  i  •  mi 

11  pelegri-   remonstrances  the    ambassador   could   lay    before  him.     Ihe 
w  tt!fle8e'  ^m»  nac^  absolutely  gained  Campeggio  to  do  all  he  could  for 
MSS.Vesp.  him,  without  losing  the  pope's  favour.     He  led  at  this  time 
.xvm.  o .  a  yeVy  dissolute  life  in  England,  hunting  and  gaming  all  the 
day  long,  and  following  whores  all  the  night ;  and  brought  a 
bastard13  of  his  own  over  to  England  with  him,  whom  the  king 
knighted :  so  that  if  the  king  sought  his  pleasure,  it  was  no 
strange  thing,  since  he  had  such  a  copy  set  him  by  two  legates, 
who  representing  his  holiness  so  lively  in  their  manners,  it  was 
no  unusual  thing  if  a  king  had  a  slight  sense  of  such  disorders14. 
April  6.      The  king  wrote  to  his    ambassadors,   that   he   was  satisfied 
of  Campeggio's  love  and  affection  to  him,  and  if  ever  he  was 
gained  by  the  emperor's  agents,  he  had  said  something  to  him 
which  did  totally  change  that  inclination. 
The  empe-       The  imperialists,  being  alarmed  at  the  recalling  of  some  of 
for  aTavo*  tne  English  ambassadors,  and  being  informed,  by  the  queen's 
cation  ;       means,  that  they  were  forming  the  process  in  England,  put  in 
a  memorial  for  an  avocation  of  the  cause  to  Rome.     The  am- 
bassadors answered,  that  there  was  no   colour  for  asking  it, 
since  there  was  nothing  yet  done  by  the  legates.     For  they 
had  strict  orders  to  deny  that  there  was  any  process  forming 
in  England,  even  to  the  pope  himself  in  private,  unless  he  had 
a  mind  it  should  go  on  ;  but  were  to  use  all  their  endeavours  to  70 
hinder  an  avocation  ;  and  plainly  in  the  king's  name  to  tell  the 
pope,  that  if  he  granted  that,  the  king  would  look  on  it  as  a 
formal  decision  against  him.     And  it  would  also  be  an  high 


13    Campeggio's  son  is  by   Hall  and  rest.'     And  again,  that  'after 

[p.  756]  none  of  his  flatterers  said  he  had  rested  him  a  season  and  was 

to  have  been  born  in  wedlock ;  i.e.  somewhat  relieved  of  his  pain,  he 

before  he  took  orders.     This  is  also  was  brought  to  the  king's  presence 

confirmed  byGauricus,Genitur.  [fob]  .  .  .  and  was  carried  in  a  chair  .  .  . 

24.  who  says  he  had  by  his  wife  three  for  he  was  not  able  to  stand.'  Ibid.] 
sons  and  two  daughters.  [F.]   [Bur-         14  [For  an  account  of  William 

net's  mistake  is  the  more  remark-  Thomas  the  author  of  this  tract  to 

able,  because  Hall  who  was  an  au-  which  the  author  has  again  referred, 

thor  often  referred  to  by  him  says  p.  92,  in  depreciation  of  Campeggio, 

of  Campeggio  at  this  time,  p.  753,  see    Wood's    Athena?    Oxonienses 

that  'he  was  so  sore  vexed  with  the  sub  an.  1554.  There  is  another  MS. 

gout  that  he  refused  all  .  .  .  solem-  copy  of  the  tract  in  the  Bodleian 

nities  and  desired  heartily  that  he  library. —  See   the  note   in    Bliss's 

might  without  pomp  be  conveyed  edition  of  Wood.] 
to  his  lodging  for  his  more  quiet 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  125 

affront  to  the  two  cardinals :    and  they  were  thereupon  to  Which  the 
protest,  that  the  king  would  not  obey,  nor  consider  the  pope  ^"gado™" 
any  more,  if  he  did  an  act  of  such  high  injustice,  as,  after  he  oppose 
had  granted  a  commission,  upon  no  complaint  of  any  illegality  muc  " 
or  unjust  proceedings  of  the  legates,  but  only  upon  surmises 
and  suspicions,  to  take  it  out  of  their  hands.     But  the  pope 
had  not  yet  brought  the  emperor  to  his  terms  in  other  things ; 
therefore,  to  draw  him  on  the  faster,  he  continued  to  give  the 
English  ambassador  good  words ;  and  in  discourse  with  Peter 
Vannes,  did  insinuate  as  if  he  had  found  a  means  to  bring  the 
whole  matter  to   a   good  conclusion,  and  spoke  it  with   an 
artificial  smile,  adding,  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  &c.  but  The  pope's 
would  not  speak  it  out,  and  seemed  to  keep  it  up  as  a  secret  not  mutation, 
yet  ripe.     But  all  this  did  afterwards  appear  to  be  the  deepest  Collect. 
dissimulation   that   ever   was  practised.     And   in   the   whole 
process,  though  the  cardinal  studied  to  make  tricks  pass  upon 
him,  yet  he  was  always  too  hard  for  them  all  at  it ;   and 
seemed  as  infallible  in  his  arts  of  juggling,  as  he  pretended  to 
be  in  his  decisions.     He  wrote  a  cajoling  letter  to  the  cardinal.  Collect. 
But  words  went  for  nothing. 

Soon  after  this,  the  pope  complained  much  to  sir  Gregory  The  pope 
Cassali  of  the  ill  usage  he  received  from  the  French  ambassa-  oTthe^Flo- 
dor,  and  that  their  confederates,  the  Florentines,  and  the  duke  rentines, 
of  Ferrara,  used  him  so  ill,  that  they  would  force  him  to  throw 
himself  into  the  emperor's  hands :    and  he  seemed  inclined  to 
grant  an  avocation  of  the  cause,  and  complained  that  there  was 
a  treaty  of  peace  going  on  at  Cambray,  in  which  he  had  no 
share.     But  the  ambassador  undertook  that  nothing  should  bo 
done  to  give  him  just  offence  ;  yet  the  Florentines  continued  to 
put  great  affronts  on  him  and  his  family  ;  and  the  abbot  of 
Farfa,  their  general,  made  excursions  to  the  gates  of  Rome ; 
so  that  the  pope,  with  great  signs  of  fear,  said,  "That  the  June  13. 
"  Florentines  would  some  day  seize  on  him,  and  carry  him, 
u  with   his  hands  bound   behind  his   back,  in   procession    to 
"  Florence :  and  that  all  this  while  the  kings  of  England  and 
"  France    did    only    entertain    him    with    good    words,    and 
"  did    not    so    much    as    restrain    the    insolencies    of    their 
"  confederates.     And   whereas  they  used  to  say,  that  if  he 
"joined  himself  to   the  emperor,  he  would  treat  him  as  his 
"  chaplain  ;  he  said  with  great  commotion,  that  he  would  not 


126 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[PART  I. 


Great  con- 
tests about 
the  avoca- 
tion. 
June  23. 
Collect. 
Numb.  27. 


"  only  choose  rather  to  be  his  chaplain,  but  his  horse-groom, 
"  than  suffer  such  injuries  from  his  own  rebellions  vassals  and 
"  subjects."  This  was  perhaps  set  on  by  the  cardinal's  arts,  to 
let  the  pope  feel  the  weight  of  offending  the  king,  and  to  oblige 
him  to  use  him  better :  but  it  wrought  a  contrary  effect,  for 
the  treaty  between  the  emperor  and  him  was  the  more  advanced 
by  it.  And  the  pope  reckoned  that  the  emperor,  being  (as  he 
was  informed)  ashamed  and  grieved  for  the  taking  and  sacking  of 
Rome,  would  study  to  repair  that  by  better  usage  for  the  future. 
The  motion  for  the  avocation  was  still  driven  on,  and  pressed 
the  more  earnestly,  because  they  heard  the  legates  were  pro- 
ceeding in  the  cause.  But  the  ambassadors  were  instructed, 
by  a  despatch  from  the  king,  to  obviate  that  carefully  ;  for  as 
it  would  reflect  on  the  legates,  and  defeat  the  commission,  arid  71 
be  a  gross  violation  of  the  pope's  promise,  which  they  had  in 
writing  ;  so  it  was  more  for  the  pope's  interest  to  leave  it  in 
the  legates'  hands,  than  to  bring  it  before  himself ;  for  then, 
whatever  sentence  passed,  the  ill  effects  of  it  would  lie  on  the 
pope  without  any  interposition.  And  as  the  king  had  very 
just  exceptions  to  Rome,  where  the  emperor's  forces  lay  so 
near,  that  no  safety  could  be  expected  there ;  so  they  were  to 
tell  the  pope,  that  by  the  laws  of  England,  the  prerogative  of 
the  crown  royal  ivas  such,  that  the  pope  could  do  nothing  that 
was  prejudicial  to  it ;  to  which  the  citing  the  king  to  Rome,  to 
have  his  cause  decided  there,  was  contrary  in  a  high  degree. 
And  if  the  pope  went  on,  notwithstanding  all  the  diligence  they 
could  use  to  the  contrary,  they  were,  by  another  despatch 
which  Gardiner  sent,  ordered  to  protest  and  appeal  from  the 
pope  as  not  the  true  vicar  of  Christ,  to  a  true  vicar.  But  the 
king  upon  second  thoughts  judged  it  not  fit  to  proceed  to  this 
extremity  so  soon.  They  were  also  ordered  to  advertise  the 
pope,  that  all  the  nobility  had  assured  the  king,  they  would 
adhere  to  him,  in  case  he  were  so  ill  used  by  the  pope,  that  he 
were  constrained  to  withdraw  his  obedience  from  the  apostolic 
see ;  and  that  the  cardinal's  ruin  was  unavoidable,  if  the  pope 
granted  the  avocation.  The  emperor's  agents  had  pretended 
they  could  not  send  the  original  breve  into  England,  and  said 
their  master  would  send  it  to  Rome,  upon  which  the  ambas- 
sadors had  solicited  for  letters  compulsory,  to  require  him  to 
send  it  to   England  ;    yet,  lest  that  might  now  be  made  an 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  127 

argument  by  the  imperialists  for  an  avocation,  they  were 
ordered  to  speak  no  more  of  it,  for  the  legates  would  proceed 
to  sentence,  upon  the  attested  copy  that  was  sent  from  Spain. 

The  ambassadors  had  also  orders  to  take  the  best  counsel  in  June  ?8. 
Rome  about  the  legal  ways  of  hindering  an  avocation.  But 
they  found  it  was  not  fit  to  rely  much  on  the  lawyers  in  that 
matter.  For  as,  on  the  one  hand,  there  was  no  secrecy  to  be 
expected  from  any  of  them,  they  having  such  expectations  of 
preferments  from  the  pope,  (which  were  beyond  all  the  fees 
that  could  be  given  them,)  that  they  discovered  all  secrets  to 
him  ;  so  none  of  them  would  be  earnest  to  hinder  an  avocation, 
it  being  their  interest  to  bring  all  matters  to  Rome,  by  which 
they  might  hope  for  much  greater  fees.  And  Salviati,  whom 
the  ambassadors  had  gained,  told  them,  that  Campana  brought 
word  out  of  England,  that  the  process  was  then  in  a  good 
forwardness.  They  with  many  oaths  denied  there  was  any 
such  thing  ;  and  Silvester  Darius,  who  was  sent  express  to 
Rome  for  opposing  the  avocation,  confirmed  all  that  they  swore. 
But  nothing  was  believed  ;  for,  by  a  secret  conveyance,  Cam- 
pana had  letters  to  the  contrary.  And  when  they  objected  to 
Salviati  what  was  promised  by  Campana,  in  the  pope's  name, 
that  he  would  do  every  thing  for  the  king  that  he  could  do  out 
of  the  fulness  of  his  power ;  he  answered,  "  that  Campana 
"  swore  he  had  never  said  any  such  thing."  So  hard  is  the 
case  of  ministers  in  such  ticklish  negotiations,  that  they  must 
say  and  unsay,  swear  and  forswear,  as  they  are  instructed, 
which  goes  of  course  as  a  part  of  their  business. 

But  now  the  legates  were  proceeding  in  England.     Of  the  The  le- 
steps  in  which  they  went,  though  a  great  deal  be  already  pub-  f^f  S1  \  m 
72  lished,  yet  considerable  things  are  passed  over.    On  the  thirty- 
first  of  May,  the  king,  by  a  warrant  under  the  great  seal,  gave 
the  legates  leave  to  execute  their  commission,  upon  which  they 
sat  that  same  day.     The  commission  was  presented  by  Long-  Orig. 
land,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  which  was  given  to  the  protonotary  of  Cotton 
the  court,  and  he  read  it  publicly  :    then  the  legates  took  it  in  Hbr.Vitel. 
their  hands,  and  said,  they  were  resolved  to  execute  it :    and  rf0i. "  sqq.l 
first  gave  the   usual   oaths  to  the  clerks  of  the  court,   and 
ordered  a  peremptory  citation  of  the  king  and  queen  to  appear 
on  the  eighteenth  of  June,  between  nine  and  ten   o'clock  ; 
and  so  the  court  adjourned.     The  next  session  was  on  the 


128  THE   HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

eighteenth  of  June,  where  the  citation  being  returned  duly 

executed,  Richard  Sampson,  dean  of  the  chapel,  and  Mr.  John 

Bell,  appeared  as  the  king's  proxies.     But  the  queen  appeared 

in  person,  and  did  protest  against  the  legates  as  incompetent 

judges,  alleging  that  the  cause  was  already  avocated  by  the 

pope,  and  desired  a  competent  time,  in  which  she  might  prove 

it.     The  legates  assigned  her  the  twenty-first,  and  so  adjourned 

the  court  till  then. 

A  severe         About  this  time  there  was  a  severe  complaint   exhibited 

against  the  against  the  queen  in  council,  of  which  there  is  an  account  given 

SI1??11;  ,      in  a  paper,  that  has  somewhat  written  at  the  conclusion  of  it 

[ibid.  fol.  .  . 

64.]  with  the  cardinal's  own  hand.     "  The  substance  of  it  is,  That 

"  they  were  informed  some  designed  to  kill  the  king,  or  the 
11  cardinal ;  in  which  if  she  had  any  hand,  she  must  not  expect 
"  to  be  spared.  That  she  had  not  shewed  such  love  to  the 
"  king,  neither  in  bed,  nor  out  of  bed,  as  she  ought.  And 
"  now  that  the  king  was  very  pensive,  and  in  much  grief,  she 
"  shewed  great  signs  of  joy,  setting  on  all  people  to  dancings 
"  and  other  diversions.  This  it  seemed  she  did  out  of  spite  to 
"  the  king,  since  it  was  contrary  to  her  temper  and  ordinary 
"  behaviour.  And  whereas  she  ought  rather  to  pray  to  God 
"  to  bring  this  matter  to  a  good  conclusion,  she  seemed  not  at 
"  all  serious  ;  and  that  she  might  corrupt  the  people's  affections 
"  to  the  king,  she  shewed  herself  much  abroad,  and  by  civilities, 
"  and  gracious  bowing  her  head,  which  had  not  been  her 
"  custom  formerly,  did  study  to  work  upon  the  people ;  and 
"  that,  having  the  pretended  breve  in  her  hands,  she  would 
"  not  shew  it  sooner.  From  all  which  the  king  concluded  that 
"  she  hated  him.  Therefore  his  council  did  not  think  it 
"  advisable  for  him  to  be  any  more  conversant  with  her,  either 
"  in  bed  or  at  board.  They  also  in  their  consciences  thought 
"  his  life  was  in  such  danger,  that  he  ought  to  withdraw  him- 
"  self  from  her  company,  and  not  suffer  the  princess  to  be  with 
"  her.  These  things  were  to  be  told  her,  to  induce  her  to 
"  enter  into  a  religious  order,  and  to  persuade  her  to  submit  to 
"  the  king."  To  which  paper  the  cardinal  added  in  Latin, 
Quod  stulte  That  she  played  the  fool,  if  she  contended  with  the  king,  that 
(vntendit  ^ier  children  had  not  been  blessed;  and  somewhat  of  the 
ctmrege,  evident  suspicions  that  were  of  the  forgery  of  the  breve.  But 
■Itii  succcs-   she  had  a  constant  mind,  and  was  not  to  be  threatened  to  any 

sit  in  foe- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  129 

thing.     On  the  twenty-first  of  June  the  court  sat ;  the  king  l'hus:  Dc 

hvevi  (X.C 

and  queen  were  present  in  person.     Campeggio  made  a  long  suspicion* 
speech  of  the  errand  they  were  come  about :  13"That  it  was  a/afe*tofos*12 
"  new,  unheard-of,  vile,  and  intolerable  thing  for  the  king  and  axuj  qUeei) 
"  queen  to  live  in  adultery,  or  rather  incest;"   which  they  «ri)ear  in 
must  now  try,  and  proceed  as  they  saw  just  cause.     And  both 
the  legates  made  deep  protestations  of  the  sincerity  of  their 
minds,  and  that  they  would  proceed  justly  and  fairly,  without 
any  favour  or  partiality. 

As  for  the  formal  speeches  which  the  king  and  queen  made, 
Hall,  who  never  failed  in  trifles,  sets  them  down,  Avhich  I  in-  [Hall,  p. 
cline  to  believe  they  really  spoke ;  for  with  the  journals  of  the  /M 
court  I  find  those  speeches  written  down,  though  not  as  a  part 
of  the  journal 14. 

But  here  the  lord  Herbert's  usual  diligence  fails  him ;    for  [Herbert, 
he   fancies  the  queen  never  appeared  after  the  eighteenth  ;  p' 2  3"-' 
upon  which,  because  the  journal  of  the  next  sessions  arc  lost, 
he  infers,  against  all  the  histories  of  that  time,  that  the  king 
and  the  queen  were  not  in  court  together.     And  he  seems  to 
conclude,  that  the  twenty-fifth  of  June  was  the  next  session 
after  the  eighteenth  :  but  in  that  he  was  mistaken  ;  for  by  an 
original  letter  of  the  king's  to  his  ambassadors,  it  is  plain  that  Collect. 
both  the  king  and  queen  came  in  person  into  the  court,  where     um '' 2 
they  both  sat,  with  their  counsel  standing  about  them ;    the 
bishops  of  Rochester  and  St.  Asaph,  and  doctor  Ridley,  being 
the  queen's  counsel.     When  the  king  and  queen  wrere  called 

12  [Cotton  MSS.  Vitell.  B.  xii.  et  Reginam  adulterii  aut  potius  in- 
fol.  66.~\  cestus  apud  Papa;  sanctitatem  reos 

13  [The  author  professes  to  take  factos  esse,  in  quo  it  a  diu  perstitis- 
this  from  a  work  entitled]  Fidelis  sent  ut  ipsa  temporis  diuturnitas 
servi  iniideli  subdito  responsio  [&e.  crimen  augeret;  huic  taminsigni  malo 
Londini  apud  Johannetn  Dayum,  remedium  aliquod salutare  ab  eo  tem- 
Typographum.  an.  1573.  The  vo-  pestive  adhibendum,  rem  esse  maximi 
lutne  is  not  paged,  but  the  passage  momenti,  quoniam  non  privata  sed 
referred  to  is  at  p.  7,  and  is  as  fol-  publico  erat,  nee  inter  incolas  unius 
lows  :  urbis,   sed  inter   cives   totius    orbis 

Nam  cum  isti  delegati  Londini  in  pervagata,  tantoque  magis  in  eo  pe- 

auldDominicandprope  domum Bride-  riculi  esse  quod  non  jam   in   regni 

wellensem  sederent,  ut  de  re  totd  ex  canalibus    aut    rivulis,   sed  in   ipso 

(squo  et  bono  disceptarentur,  habebat  fonte,  non  in  membris  sed  in  capite 

Campeius   in  procinctu   non    minus  non  obscuro   aliquo  in  loco,  sed  in 

long  am  quam  luculenfam  orationem;  luce  clarissimu,  aique  omnium  oruli^ 

rem  ad  pontificis  aures  increbuisse  habitaretJ] 
narrat  non  minus  novum  et  inauditam         l4  [Sec  part  3rd,  p.  46.] 
quamfa&dam  et  intolerabilem,  Regan 

BURNET,   PART  I.  K 


130  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paiit  i. 

on,  tlic  king  answered,  Here ;  but  the  queen  left  her  seat,  and 
went  and  kneeled  down  before  him,  and  made  a  speech,  that 
had  all  the  insinuations  in  it  to  raise  pity  and  compassion  in  the 
The  court.    She  said,  "  She  was  a  poor  woman,  and  a  stranger  in  his 

speech!  "  dominions,  where  she  could  neither  expect  good  counsel,  nor 
"  indifferent  judges  ;  she  had  been  long  his  wife,  and  desired 
"  to  know  wherein  she  had  offended  him  :  she  had  been  his 
"  wife  twenty  years  and  more,  and  had  borne  him  several 
"  children,  and  had  ever  studied  to  please  him ;  and  protested 
"  he  had  found  her  a  true  maid,  about  which  she  appealed  to 
"  his  own  conscience.  If  she  had  done  any  thing  amiss,  she 
"  was  willing  to  be  put  away  with  shame.  Their  parents  were 
"  esteemed  very  wise  princes,  and  no  doubt  had  good  coun- 
"  sellors,  and  learned  men  about  them,  when  the  match  was 
"  agreed :  therefore  she  would  not  submit  to  the  court ;  nor 
"  durst  her  lawyers,  who  were  his  subjects,  and  assigned  by  him, 
"  speak  freely  for  her.  So  she  desired  to  be  excused  till  she 
"  heard  from  Spain."  That  said,  she  rose  up,  and  made  the 
king  a  low  reverence,  and  went  out  of  the  court.  And  though 
they  called  after  her,  she  made  no  answer,  but  went  away,  and 
would  never  again  appear  in  court. 
The  king  She  being  gone,  the  king  did  publicly  declare  what  a  true 
account  of  an<^  obedient  wife  she  had  always  been,  and  commended  her 
his  scru-  much  for  her  excellent  qualities.  Then  the  cardinal  of  York 
desired  the  king  would  witness  whether  he  had  been  the  first 
or  chief  mover  of  that  matter  to  him,  since  he  was  suspected 
to  have  done  it.  In  which  the  king  did  vindicate  him,  and 
said,  that  he  had  always  rather  opposed  it,  and  protested  it 
arose  merely  out  of  a  scruple  in  his  conscience,  which  was 
occasioned  by  the  discourse  of  the  French  ambassador ;  who, 
during  the  treaty  of  a  match  between  his  daughter  and  the 
duke  of  Orleans,  did  except  to  her  being  legitimate,  as  begotten 
in  an  unlawful  marriage :  upon  which  he  resolved  to  try  the 
lawfulness  of  it,  both  for  the  quiet  of  his  conscience,  and  for 
clearing  the  succession  of  the  crown  :  and  if  it  were  found 
lawful,  he  was  very  well  satisfied  to  live  still  with  the  queen. 
But  upon  that,  he  had  first  moved  it  in  confession  to  the  bishop 
of  Lincoln  :  then  he  had  desired  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury 
to  gather  the  opinions  of  the  bishops,  who  did  all  under  their 
hands  and  seals  declare  against  the  marriage.  This  the  arch- 
bishop  confirmed,  but  the  bishop  of  Rochester  denied  his  hand 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  131 

74  was  at  it.     And  the  archbishop  pretended  lie  had  his  consent 

to  make  another  write  his  name  to  the  judgment  of  the  rest, 

which  he  positively  denied. 

The  court  adjourned  to  the  twenty-fifth,  ordering  letters 

monitory  to  be  issued  out  for  citing  the  queen  to  appear  under 

pain  of  contumacy.     But  on  the  twenty-fifth  was  brought  in  The 

her  appeal  to  the  pope,  the  original  of  which  is  extant,  every  ^iZ^a. 

page  beino-  both  subscribed  and  superscribed  by  her.     She  [Cotton 

&  &  .  MSS.  Vi- 

oxcepted  both  to  the  place,  to  the  judges,  and  to  her  counsel,  tell.B.  xii. 

in  whom  she  could  not  confide ;  and  therefore  appealed,  and  fol-  2a+-l 

desired  her  cause  might  be  heard  by  the  pope,  with  many 

things  out  of  the  canon  law,  on  which  she  grounded  it.     This 

being  read,  and  she  not  appearing,  was  declared  contumax. 

Then  the  legates,  being  to  proceed  ex  officio,  drew  up  twelve  Articles 

articles,  upon  which  they  were  to  examine  witnesses.      The  thelegatea 

substance  of  them  was,   "  That  prince  Arthur  and  the  king 

"  were  brothers  ;   that  prince  Arthur  did  marry  the  queen, 

"  and  consummated  the  marriage ;   that  upon  his  death  the 

"  king,  by  virtue  of  a  dispensation,  had  married  her ;  that  this 

"  marrying  his  brother's  wife  was  forbidden  both  by  human 

"  and  divine  law ;    and  that,  upon  the  complaints  which  the 

"  pope  had  received,  he  had  sent  them  now  to  try  and  judge 

"  in  it."     The  king's  counsel  insisted  most  on  prince  Arthur's 

having  consummated  the  marriage,  and  that  led  them  to  say 

many  things  that  seemed  indecent;   of  which  the  bishop  of 

Rochester  complained,  and  said,  they  were  things  detestable 

to  be  heard :    but  cardinal  Wolsey  checked  him,  and  there 

passed  some  sharp  words  between  them. 

The  legates  proceeded  to  the  examination  of  witnesses,  of  Upon 

which  I  shall  say  little,  the  substance  of  their  depositions  being 


11  esses  are 


fully  set  down,  with  all  their  names,  by  the  lord  Herbert.  The  examined. 

„     ,  .       .  .  [Herbert, 

sum  of  what  was  most  material  in  them  was,  that  many  violent  pp.  270, 
presumptions  appeared  by  their  testimonies,  that  prince  Arthur  sciq'l 
did  carnally  know  the  queen.  And  it  cannot  be  imagined  how 
greater  proofs  could  be  made  twenty-seven  years  after  their 
marriage.  Thus  the  court  went  on  several  days  examining 
witnesses :  but  as  the  matter  was  going  on  to  a  conclusion, 
there  came  an  avocation  from  Rome :  of  which  I  shall  now 
give  an  account. 

The  queen  wrote  most  earnestly  to  her  nephews  to  procure  The  pro- 
an  avocation ;  protesting  she  would  suffer  any  thing,  and  even  ^K^me 


182  THE  HISTORY. OF  [parti. 

about avo-  death  itself,  rather  than  depart  from  her  marriage:  that  she 
expected  no  justice  from  the  legates,  and  therefore  looked  for 
their  assistance,  that,  her  appeal  being  admitted  by  the  pope, 
All  this  is  the  cause  might  be  taken  out  of  the  legates'  hands.  Campcg- 
the  original  gi°  did  also  give  the  pope  an  account  of  their  progress,  and 
letters,        \}y  a\\  mcans  advised  an  avocation :  for  by  this  he  thought  to 

June  28,  J  .  J  5s 

and  30.       excuse  himself  to  the  king,  to  oblige  the  emperor  much,  and 

reott      ^°  nave  ^ne  reputation  of  a  man  of  conscience. 
MSS.  Vi-        The  emperor,  and  his  brother  Ferdinand,  sent  their  ambas- 
fol.  170-  '   sadors  at  Home  orders,  to  give  the  pope  no  rest  till  it  were 
•94-]  procured;  and  the  emperor  said,  He  would  look  on  a  sentence 

against  his  aunt  as  a  dishonour  to  his  family,  and  would  lose 
all  his  kingdoms  sooner  than  endure  it.  And  they  plied  the 
pope  so  warmly,  that  between  them  and  the  English  ambassa- 
dors he  had  for  some  days  very  little  rest.  To  the  one  he 
was  kind,  and  to  the  other  he  resolved  to  be  civil.  The  Eng- 
lish ambassadors  met  oft  with  Salviati,  and  studied  to  persuade 
him,  that  the  process  went  not  on  in  England ;  but  he  told 
them,  their  intelligence  was  so  good,  that  whatever  they  said 
on  that  head  would  not  be  believed.  They  next  suggested,  75 
that  it  was  visible  Campeggio's  advising  an  avocation  was  only 
done  to  preserve  himself  from  the  envy  of  the  sentence,  and  to 
throw  it  wholly  on  the  pope ;  for  were  the  matter  once  called 
to  Rome,  the  pope  must  give  sentence  one  way  or  another, 
and  so  bear  the  whole  burden  of  it.  There  were  also  secret 
surmises  of  deposing  the  pope,  if  he  went  so  far ;  for  seeing 
that  the  emperor  prevailed  so  much  by  the  terrors  of  that,  the 
cardinal  resolved  to  try  what  operation  such  threatenings  in 
The  pope  the  king's  name  might  have.  But  they  had  no  armies  near 
the  em-  the  pope,  so  that  big  words  did  only  provoke  and  alienate  him 
Pe">r:         the  more. 

The  matter  was  such,  that  by  the  canon  law  it  could  not  be 
denied.  For  to  grant  an  avocation  of  a  cause  upon  good  rea- 
son, from  the  delegated  to  the  supreme  court,  was  a  thing 
which  by  the  course  of  law  was  very  usual :  and  it  was  no  less 
apparent  that  the  reasons  of  the  queen's  appeal  were  just  and 
good.  But  the  secret  and  most  convincing  motives,  that 
wrought  more  on  the  pope  than  all  other  things,  were,  that 
the  treaty  between  him  and  the  emperor  was  now  concerted : 
therefore,  this  being  to  be  published  very  speedily,  the  pope 
thought  it  necessary  to  avocate  the  matter  to  Rome  before  the 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  133 

publication  for  the  peace,  lest,  if  he  did  it  after,  it  should  be 
thought  that  it  had  been  one  of  the  secret  articles  of  the  treaty, 
which  would  have  cast  a  foul  blot  upon  him.  Yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  was  not  a  little  perplexed  with  the  fears  he  had 
of  losing  the  king  of  England ;  he  knew  he  was  a  man  of  an 
high  spirit,  and  would  resent  what  he  did  severely.  "  And  Collect. 
"  the  cardinal  now  again  ordered  Dr.  Bonnet  in  his  name,  and 
"  as  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  lying  at  the  pope's  feet,  to  assure 
"  him,  that  the  king  and  kingdom  of  England  were  certainly 
"  lost  if  the  cause  were  avocated :  therefore  he  besought  him 
"  to  leave  it  still  in  their  hands,  and  assured  him,  that  for  him- 
"  self,  he  should  rather  be  torn  in  pieces  joint  by  joint  than 
"  do  any  thing  in  that  matter  contrary  to  his  conscience  or  to 
"justice."  These  things  had  been  oft  said,  and  the  pope  did  Yet  is  in 
apprehend  that  ill  effects  would  follow :  for  if  the  king  fell  plexites, 
from  his  obedience  to  the  apostolic  sec,  no  doubt  all  the  Lu- 
theran princes,  who  were  already  bandying  against  the  em- 
peror, would  join  themselves  with  him  ;  and  the  interests  of 
France  would  most  certainly  engage  that  king  also  into  the 
union,  which  would  distract  the  church,  give  encouragement 
to  heresy,  and  end  in  the  utter  ruin  of  the  popedom.  But  in 
all  this  the  crafty  pope  comforted  himself,  that  many  times 
threatcnings  are  not  intended  to  be  made  good,  but  are  used 
to  terrify ;  and  that  the  king,  who  had  written  for  the  faith 
against  Luther,  and  had  been  so  ill  used  by  him,  would  never  do 
a  thing  that  would  sound  so  ill,  as,  because  he  could  not  obtain 
what  he  had  a  mind  to,  therefore  to  turn  heretic :  he  also  re- 
solved to  caress  the  French  king  much,  and  was  in  hopes  oi 
making  peace  between  the  emperor  and  him. 

But  that  which  went  nearest  the  pope's  heart  of  all  other 
things,  was  the  setting  up  of  his  family  at  Florence ;  and  the 
emperor  having  given  him  assurance  of  that,  it  weighed  down 
all  other  considerations.  Therefore  he  resolved  he  would 
please  the  emperor,  but  do  all  he  could,  not  to  lose  the  king  : 
so  on  the  ninth  of  July,  he  sent  for  the  king's  ambassadors, 
and  told  them,  the  process  was  now  so  far  set  on  in  England, 
and  the  avocation  so  earnestly  pressed,  that  he  could  deny  it 
no  longer  ;  for  all  the  lawyers  in  Rome  had  told  him,  the  thing 
76  could  not  be  denied  in  the  common  course  of  justice.  Upon 
this  the  ambassadors  told  him  what  they  had  in  commission  to 
say  against  it,  both  from  the  king  and  the  cardinal,  and  pressed 


134  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

it  with  great  vehemence  :  so  that  the  pope  by  many  sighs  and 
tears  shewed  how  deep  an  impression  that  which  they  said 
made  upon  him  :  he  wished  himself  dead,  that  he  might  be 
delivered  out  of  that  martyrdom  :  and  added  these  words, 
which,  because  of  their  savouring  so  much  of  an  apostolical 
spirit,  I  set  down :  Woe  is  me,  nobody  apprehends  all  those 
evils  better  than  I  do.  But  I  am  so  between  the  hammer  and 
the  forge,  that,  ivhen  I  would  comply  with  the  king's  desires, 
the  whole  storm  then  must  fall  on  my  head ;  and,  which  is 
ivorse,  on  the  church  of  Christ.  They  did  object  the  many 
promises  he  had  made  them,  both  by  word  of  mouth,  and 
under  his  hand.  He  answered,  He  desired  to  do  more  for  the 
king  than  he  had  promised  :  but  it  was  impossible  to  refuse 
what  the  emperor  now  demanded,  whose  forces  did  so  sur- 
round him,  that  lie  could  not  only  force  him  to  grant  him 
justice,  but  could  disjwse  of  him  and  all  his  concerns  at  his 
pleasure. 

The  ambassadors,  seeing  the  pope  was  resolved  to  grant  the 

avocation,  pressed  against  it  no  farther,  but  studied  to  put  it 

off  for  some  time  :  and  therefore  proposed,  that  the  pope  would 

himself  write  about  it  to  the  king,  and  not  grant  it  till  he 

received  his  answer.     Of  all  this  they  gave  advertisement  to 

the  king,  and  wrote  to  him,  that  he  must  either   drive  the 

matter  to  a  sentence  in  great  haste,  or,  to  prevent  the  affront 

of  an  avocation,   suspend  the  process  for  some  time.      They 

also  advised  the  searching  all  the  packets  that  went  or  came  by 

the  way  of  Flanders  ;  and  to  keep  up  all  Campeggio's  letters, 

and  to  take  care  that  no  bull  might  come  to  England ;  for  they 

did   much    apprehend  that  the    avocation  would  be  granted 

July  16.      within  very  few  days.     Their  next  despatch  bore,   that  the 

MSS°D       P°P°  bad  sent  for  them  to  let  them  know,  that  he  had  signed 

Viteil.        the  avocation  the  day  before.     But  they  understood  another 

202.]   l       way>  that  the  treaty  between  the  emperor  and  him  was  finished, 

The  avo-     and  the  peace  was  to  be  proclaimed  on  the  eighteenth  of  July  ; 

cation  is      ancj  t]mt  t]ie  p0pe  c|j(|  not  on]    f       t]ie  emperor  m0rc  than  all 

granted.  l     l  J  r 

other  princes,  but  that  he  also  trusted  him  more  now.     On  the 

nineteenth  of  July,  the  pope  sent  a  messenger  with  the  avoca- 

Collect.       tion  to  England,  with  a  letter  to  the  cardinal.     To  the  king  he 

um  •  3°-  wrotc  afterwards. 
T,u3  F°"         All  this  while  Campcggio,  as  he  had  orders  from  the  pope 
the  legates,  to  draw  out  the  matter  by  delays,  so  did  it  very  dextrously  : 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  135 

and  in  this  he  pretended  a  fair  excuse,  that  it  would  not  be  for 
the  king's  honour  to  precipitate  the  matter  too  much,  lest  great 
advantages  might  be  taken  from  that  by  the  queen's  party. 
That  therefore  it  was  fit  to  proceed  slowly,  that  the  world 
might  see  with  what  moderation  as  well  as  justice  the  matter 
was  handled.  From  the  twenty-fifth  of  June,  the  court  ad- 
journed to  the  twenty-eighth,  ordering  a  second  citation  for 
the  queen,  under  the  pains  of  contumacy,  and  of  their  pro- 
ceeding to  examine  witnesses.  And  on  the  twenty-eighth  they 
declared  the  queen  contumacious  the  second  time ;  and  examined 
several  witnesses  upon  the  articles,  and  adjourned  to  the  fifth 
of  July.  On  that  day  the  bull  and  breve  were  read  in  court, 
and  the  king's  counsel  argued  long  against  the  validity  of  the 
one,  and  the  truth  of  the  other,  upon  the  grounds  that  have 
been  already  mentioned ;  in  which  Campeggio  was  much  dis- 
gusted to  hear  them  argue  against  the  pope's  power  of  granting 
77  such  a  dispensation  in  a  matter  that  was  against  a  divine  pre- 
cept, alleging  that  his  power  did  not  extend  so  far.  This  the 
legates  overruled,  and  said,  that  that  was  too  high  a  point  for 
them  to  judge  in,  or  so  much  as  to  hear  argued  ;  and  that  the 
pope  himself  was  the  only  proper  judge  in  that :  "  and  it  was 
"  odds  but  he  would  judge  favourably  for  himself."  The  court 
adjourned  to  the  twelfth,  and  from  that  to  the  fourteenth.  On 
these  days  the  depositions  of  the  rest  of  the  witnesses  were 
taken,  and  some  that  were  ancient  persons  were  examined  by  a 
commission  from  the  legates  ;  and  all  the  depositions  were 
published  on  the  seventeenth ;  other  instruments  relating  to 
the  process  were  also  read  and  verified  in  court.  On  the 
twenty-first  the  court  sat  to  conclude  the  matter,  as  was  ex- 
pected, and  the  instrument  that  the  king  had  signed  when  he  [Herbert, 
came  of  age,  protesting  that  he  would  not  stand  to  the  contract  p' 277'-" 
made  when  he  was  under  age,  was  then  read  and  verified. 
Upon  which  the  king's  counsel  (of  whom  Gardiner  was  the 
chief)  closed  their  evidence,  and  summed  up  all  that  had  been  All  things 
brought ;  and,  in  the  king's  name,  desired  sentence  might  be  ^ re  ready 

&  &  '  o  for  a  sen- 

given.    But  Campeggio,  pretending  that  it  was  fit  some  interval  tence. 

should  be  between  that  and  the  sentence,  put  it  oif  till  the 

twenty-third,  being  Friday ;    and  in  the  whole  process  14  he 

14  Campeggio  might  take  upon  the  imputation  that  might  have  been 
him  to  direct  the  process,  as  being  cast  on  the  proceedings,  if  Wolsey 
sent  express  from  Rome,  or  to  avoid     had  done   it,  but  he  was  not  the 


136  THE   HISTORY   OF  [part  l 

presided,  both  being-  the  ancienter  cardinal,  and  chiefly  to  shew 

great  equity ;  since  exceptions  might  have  been  taken,  if  the 

other  had  appeared  much  in  it :  so  that  he  only  sat  by  him  for 

form ;  but  all  the  orders  of  the  court  were  still  directed  by 

Campeggio.     On  Friday  there  was  a  great  appearance,  and  a 

general  expectation  ;    but  by  a  strange   surprise   Campeggio 

Campeggio  adjourned  the  court  to  the  first  of  October,  for  which  he  pre- 

the°court  •  tended,  that  they  sat  there  as  a  part  of  the  consistory  of  Home, 

[Herbert,    and  therefore  must  follow  the  rules  of  that  court,  which  from 

p.  27.  .j       j.|ia£  £jme  £-j|  Qct0ker  was  m  a  vacation,  and  heard  no  causes  : 

and  this  he  averred  to  be  true  on  the  word  of  a  true  prelate. 

The  king  was  in  a  chamber  very  near,  where  he  heard  what 
passed,  and  was  inexpressibly  surprised  at  it.  The  dukes  of 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk  were  in  court,  and  complained  much  of  this 
delay  ;  and  pressed  the  legates  to  give  sentence.  Campeggio  • 
answered,  That  what  they  might  then  pronounce  would  be  of 
no  force,  as  being  in  vacation-time ;  but  gave  great  hopes  of  a 
favourable  sentence  in  the  beginning  of  October.  Upon  which 
[Hall,  p.  the  lords  spake  very  high.  And  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  with 
75  'J  great  commotion,  swore  by  the  mass,  that  he  saw  it  was  true 

which  had  been  commonly  said,  That  never  cardinal  yet  did 
Which  good  in  England ;  and  so  all  the  temporal  lords  went  away  in 
offence™3  a  fUI7'  leavmg  the  legates  ( Wolsey  especially)  in  no  small  per- 
plexity. Wolsey  knew  it  would  be  suspected  that  he  under- 
stood this  beforehand,  and  that  it  would  be  to  no  purpose  for 
him,  either  to  say  he  did  not  know,  or  could  not  help  it ;  all 
apologies  being  ill  heard  by  an  enraged  prince.  Campeggio 
had  not  much  to  lose  in  England  but  his  bishopric  of  Salisbury, 
and  the  reward  he  expected  from  the  king,  which  he  knew  the 
emperor  and  the  pope  would  plentifully  make  up  to  him.  But 
his  colleague  was  in  a  worse  condition ;  he  had  much  to  fear, 
because  he  had  much  to  lose ;  for  as  the  king  had  severely 
chid  him  for  the  delays  of  the  business,  so  he  was  now  to  expect 
a  heavy  storm  from  him ;  and  after  so  long  an  administration 
of  affairs  by  so  insolent  a  favourite,  it  was  not  to  be  doubted, 
Wolsey'.-  but  as  many  of  his  enemies  were  joining  against  him,  so  matter 
must  needs  be  found  to  work  his  ruin  with  a  prince  that  was 
alienated  from  him :  therefore  he  was  under  all  the  disorders  78 


ancienter  cardinal,  for  Wolsey  way     peggio   with   many  more   was  ad- 
mack  alone  Sept  7.  151:,,  and  Cam-     vanced  July  1,  1517.  [F.] 


danger. 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  137 

which  a  fear,  that  was  heightened  by  ambition  and  covctous- 
ness,  could  produce. 

But  the  king  governed  himself  upon  this  occasion  with  more 
temper  than  could  have  been  expected  from  a  man  of  his 
humour :  therefore,  as  he  made  no  great  show  of  disturbance, 
so,  to  divert  his  uneasy  thoughts,  he  went  his  progress.  Soon 
after,  he  received  his  agent's  letter  from  Rome,  and  made 
Gardiner  (who  was  then  secretary  of  state)  write  to  the  car- 
dinal, to  put  Campeggio  to  his  oath,  whether  he  had  revealed 
the  king's  secrets  to  the  pope  or  not  ?  and  if  he  swore  he  had 
not  done  it,  to  make  him  swear  he  should  never  do  it.  A  little 
after  that,  the  messenger  came  from  Rome  with  a  breve  to  the 
legates,  requiring  them  to  proceed  no  further,  and  with  an 
avocation  of  the  cause  to  Rome  ;  together  with  letters  citatory  August  4. 
to  the  king  and  queen  to  appear  there  in  person,  or  by  their 
proxies.  Of  which  when  the  king  was  advertised,  Gardiner 
wrote  to  the  cardinal  by  his  order,  That  the  king  would  not 
have  the  letters  citatory  executed,  or  the  commission  discharged 
by  virtue  of  them ;  but  that,  upon  the  pope's  breve  to  them, 
they  should  declare  their  commission  void  :  for  he  would  not 
suffer  a  thing  so  much  to  the  prejudice  of  his  crown,  as  a  cita- 
tion be  made  to  appear  in.  another  court,  nor  would  he  let  his 
subjects  imagine  that  he  was  to  be  cited  out  of  his  kingdom. 
This  was  the  first  step  that  he  made  for  the  lessening  of  the 
pope's  power:/ upon  which  the  two  cardinals  (for  they  were  [Hall,  p. 
legates  no  longer)  went  to  the  king  at  Grafton.  It  was  gene- 759'-' 
rally  expected  that  Wolsey  should  have  been  disgraced  then  ; 
for  not  only  the  king  was  offended  with  him,  but  he  received 
new  informations  of  his  having  juggled  in  the  business,  and 
that  he  secretly  advised  the  pope  to  do  what  was  done.  This 
was  set  about  by  some  of  the  queen's  agents,  as  if  there  was 
certain  knowledge  had  of  it  at  Rome ;  and  it  was  said,  that 
some  letters  of  his  to  the  pope  were  by  a  trick  found,  and 
brought  over  to  England.  The  emperor  looked  on  the  car- 
dinal as  his  inveterate  enemy,  and  designed  to  ruin  him  if  it 
was  possible ;  nor  was  it  hard  to  persuade  the  queen  to  concur 
with  him  to  pull  him  down.  But  all  this  seems  an  artifice  of 
theirs  only  to  destroy  him.  For  the  earnestness  the  cardinal 
expressed  in  this  matter  was  such,  that  either  he  vtes  sincere  in 
it,  or  he  was  the  best  at  dissembling  that  ever  was.     But  these 


138  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

suggestions  were  easily  infused  in  the  king's  angry  mind  :  so 
strangely  are  men  turned  by  their  affections,  that  sometimes 
they  will  believe  nothing,  and  at  other  times  they  believe  every 
thing.  Yet  when  the  cardinal,  with  his  colleague,  came  to 
court,  they  were  received  by  the  king  with  very  hearty  ex- 
pressions of  kindness ;  and  Wolsey  was  often  in  private  with 
him,  sometimes  in  presence  of  the  council,  and  sometimes  alone: 
once  he  was  many  hours  with  the  king  alone,  and  when  they 
Sept.  23.  in  took  leave,  he  sent  them  away  very  obligingly.  But  that 
a  letter       which  gave  cardinal  Wolsey  the  most  assurance  was,  that  all 

from  the  »  <J  ' 

cardinal's    those  who   were  admitted  to  the  king's  privacies  did  carry 
Cromwell.0  themselves  towards  him  as  they  were  wont  to  do ;  both  the 
duke  of  Suffolk,  sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  then  made  viscount  of 
Rochford,  sir  Brian  Tuke,  and  Gardiner :  concluding  that  from 
the  motions  of  such  weathercocks  the  air  of  the  prince's  affec- 
tions was  best  gathered. 
Anne  Bo-        Anne  Boleyn  was  now  brought  to  the  court  again,  out  of 
leyn  re-       which  she  had  been  dismissed  for  some  time,  for  silencing  the 

turns  to  .  .  ° 

court.          noise  that  her  being  at  court,  during  the  process,  would  have 

occasioned.  It  is  said,  that  she  took  her  dismission  so  ill,  that  79 
she  resolved  never  again  to  return ;  and  that  she  was  very 
hardly  brought  to  it  afterwards,  not  without  threatenings  from 
her  father.  But  of  that  nothing  appears  to  me ;  only  this 
I  find,  that  all  her  former  kindness  to  the  cardinal  was  now 
turned  to  enmity,  so  that  she  was  not  wanting  in  her  endeavours 
to  pull  him  down. 

But  the  king  being  reconciled  to  her,  and,  as  it  is  ordinary 
after  some  intermission  and  disorder  between  lovers,  his  affec- 
tion increasing,  he  was  casting  about  for  overtures,  how  to 
compass  what  he  so  earnestly  desired.  Sometimes  he  thought 
of  procuring  a  new  commission  ;  but  that  was  not  advisable, 
for  after  a  long  dependence  it  might  end  as  the  former  had 
done.  Then  he  thought  of  breaking  off  with  the  pope :  but 
there  was  great  danger  in  that :  for,  besides  that  in  his  own 
persuasion  he  adhered  to  all  the  most  important  parts  of  the 
Roman  religion,  his  subjects  were  so  addicted  to  it,  that  any 
such  a  change  could  not  but  seem  full  of  hazard.  Sometime  he 
inclined  to  confederate  himself  with  the  pope  and  the  emperor, 
for  now  there  was  no  dividing  of  them,  till  he  should  thereby 
bring  the  emperor  to  yield  to  his  desires.    But  that  was  against 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  139 

the  interests  of  his  kingdom,  and  the  emperor  had  already 
proceeded  so  far  in  his  opposition,  that  he  could  not  be  easily 
brought  about. 

While  his  thoughts  were  thus  divided,  a  new  proposition  was  Cranmer'a 
made  to  him,  that  seemed  the  most  reasonable  and  feasible  of  abouiTthe" 
them  all.  There  was  one  Dr.  Cranmer,  who  had  been  a  fellow  king's  di- 
of  Jesus  College  in  Cambridge  ;  but  having  married,  forfeited 
his  fellowship ;  yet  continued  his  studies,  and  was  a  reader  of 
divinity  in  Buckingham  college.  His  wife  dying,  he  was  again 
chosen  fellow  of  Jesus  college  ;  and  was  much  esteemed  in  the 
university  for  his  learning,  which  appeared  very  eminently  on 
all  public  occasions.  But  he  was  a  man  that  neither  courted 
preferment,  nor  did  willingly  accept  of  it  when  offered.  And 
therefore,  though  he  was  invited  to  be  a  reader  of  divinity  in 
the  cardinal's  college  at  Oxford,  he  declined  it.  He  was  at 
this  time  forced  to  fly  out  of  Cambridge,  from  a  plague  that 
was  there  ;  and  having  the  sons  of  one  Mr.  Cressy  of  Waltham 
Cross  committed  to  his  charge,  he  went  with  his  pupils  to  their 
father's  house  at  Waltham.  There  he  was  when  the  king 
returned  from  his  progress,  who  took  Waltham  in  his  way,  and 
lay  a  night  there.  The  harbingers  having  appointed  Gardiner, 
and  Fox,  the  king's  secretary  and  almoner,  to  lie  at  Mr.  Cres- 
sy "s  house,  it  so  happened  that  Cranmer  was  with  them  at 
supper.  The  whole  discourse  of  England  being  then  about 
the  divorce,  these  two  courtiers,  knowing  Cranmer's  learning 
and  solid  judgment,  entertained  him  with  it,  and  desired  to 
hear  his  opinion  concerning  it.  He  modestly  declined  it ;  but 
told  them,  that  he  judged  it  would  be  a  shorter  and  safer  way 
once  to  clear  it  well,  if  the  marriage  was  unlawful  in  itself  by 
virtue  of  any  divine  precept :  for  if  that  were  proved,  then  it 
was  certain,  that  the  pope's  dispensation  could  be  of  no  force 
to  make  that  lawful,  which  God  had  declared  to  be  unlawful. 
Therefore  he  thought,  that,  instead  of  a  long  fruitless  negotia- 
tion at  Rome,  it  were  better  to  consult  all  the  learned  men, 
and  the  universities  of  Christendom  ;  for  if  they  once  declared 
it  in  the  king's  favour,  then  the  pope  must  needs  give  judg- 
80  ment ;  or  otherwise,  the  bull  being  of  itself  null  and  void,  the 
marriage  would  be  found  sinful,  notwithstanding  the  pope's  dis- 
pensation. This  seemed  a  very  good  motion,  which  they 
resolved  to  offer  to  the  king ;  so  next  night,  when  he  came  to 
Greenwich,  they  proposed  it  to  him  ;   but  with  this  difference. 


140  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

that  Gardiner  had  a  mind  to  make  it  pass  for  their  own  con- 
trivance ;  but  Fox,  who  was  of  a  more  ingenuous  nature,  told 

Approved    the  king  from  whom  they  had  it.     He  was  much  affected  with 

king  ^  *t,  so  soon  as  he  heard  it,  and  said,  had  he  known  it  sooner,  it 
would  have  saved  him  a  vast  expense,  and  much  trouble ;  and 
would  needs  have  Cranraer  sent  for  to  court,  saying,  in  his 

[Fuller,  v.  coarse  way  of  speaking,  That  he  had  the  sow  by  the  right  ear. 

p.  179.J       gQ   jie  was  genj.  £or  ^Q  cour^  anc|  bemg.  brought  before  the 

king,  he  carried  himself  so,  that  the  king  conceived  an  high 
opinion  of  his  judgment  and  candour,  which  he  preserved  to 
his  death,  and  still  paid  a  respect  to  him,  beyond  all  the  other 
churchmen  that  were  about  him  :  and  though  he  made  more 
use  of  Gardiner  in  his  business,  whom  he  found  a  man  of  great 
dexterity  and  cunning  ;  yet  he  never  had  any  respect  for  him. 
But  for  Cranmcr,  though  the  king  knew  that  in  many  things 
he  differed  from  him,  yet,  for  all  his  being  so  impatient  of  con- 
tradiction, he  always  reverenced  him. 
And  he  He  was  soon  looked  on  as  a  rising  churchman,  and  the 

teemed  by  rather,  because  the   cardinal  was  now  declining  ;    for  in  the 
him.  following  Michaelmas  term  the  king  sent  for  the  great  seal, 

The  cardi-  which  the  cardinal  at  first  was  not  willing  to  part  with.  But 
mil's  fall.  £ne  nex£  c|ay  j.]ie  j^ng  wrote  t0  him,  and  he  presently  delivered 
it  to  the  dukes  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk.  It  was  offered  back 
again  to  Warham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  but  ho,  being 
very  old,  and  foreseeing  great  difficulties  in  the  keeping  of  it, 
excused  himself.  So  it  was  given  to  sir  Thomas  More,  who 
was  not  only  eminent  in  his  own  profession,  but  in  all  other 
learning; :  and  was  much  esteemed  for  the  strictness  of  his  life, 
and  his  contempt  of  money.  He  was  also  the  more  fit  to  be 
made  use  of,  having  been  in  ill  terms  with  the  cardinal.  Soon 
[Herbert.,  after,  Hales,  the  attorney  general,  put  in  an  information  against 
P-  29°-J  t}ie  car(|inal  in  the  king's  bench  ;  bearing,  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  statute  of  Richard  the  Second,  against  the  procuring 
bidlsfrom  Rome,  under  the  pains  of  praemunire,  yet  he  had 
procured  bulls  for  his  leg  atine  power,  which  he  had  for  many 
years  executed;  and  some  particulars,  for  form,  were  named 
out  of  a  great  many  more.  To  this  he  put  in  his  answer  by  his 
attorney,  and  confessed  the  indictment,  but  pleaded  his  igno- 
rance of  the  statute,  and  submitted  himself  to  the  king's 
mercy.  Upon  this  it  was  declared,  that  he  was  out  of  the 
king's  protection,   and  that  he  had  forfeited  his  goods  and 


book  ii. J  THE   REFORMATION.     (1529.)  141 

chattels  to  the  king,  and  that  his  person  might  be  seized  on. 

Then  was  his  rich  palace  of  York-house1  \  (now  Whitehall,)  with 

all  that  vast  wealth  and  royal  furniture  that  he  had  heaped 

together,  (which  was  beyond  any  thing  that  had  ever  been  seen 

in  England  before,)  seized  on  for  the  king.     But  it  seems  the 

king  had  not  a  mind  to  destroy  him  outright,  but  only  to 

bring  him  lower,  and  to  try  if  the  terror  of  that  would  have 

any  influence  on  the  pope:    therefore,  on  the  twenty-first  of  Rot. Pat.  2. 
.  ,  .  .  1.1       Pars  vices- 

November,  the  king  granted  him  first  his  protection,  and  then  prim.regni. 

his  pardon,  and  restored  him  to  the  archbishopric  of  York,  [Rvmer> 

.  .  .  .  xiv.  p.  351.] 

81  and  the  bishopric  of  Winchester,  and  gave  him  back  in  money,  Feb.  12. 

goods,  and  plate,  that  which  amounted  to  6374£.  3s.  Id16,  and  ^^51 

many  kind  messages   were  sent  him,  both  by  the  king  and 

Anne  Boleyn. 

But  as  he  had  carried  his  greatness  with  most  extravagant  The  mean- 
pride,  so  he  was  no  less  basely  cast  down  with  his  misfortune ;  temper. 
and  having  no  ballast  within  himself,  but  being  wholly  guided 
by  things  without  him,  he  was  lifted  up,  or  cast  down,  as  the 
scales  of  fortune  turned  :  yet  his  enemies  had  gone  too  far  ever 
to  suffer  a  man  of  his  parts  or  temper  to  return  to  favour. 
And  therefore  they  so  ordered  it,  that  an  high  charge  of  many 
articles  was  brought  against  him,  into  the  house  of  lords,  in 
the  parliament  that  sat  in  November  following  ;    and  it  passed 
there,  where  he  had  but  few  friends,  and  many  and  great 
enemies.     But  when  the  charge  was  sent  down  to  the  house  of 
commons,  it  was  so  managed  by  the  industry  of  Cromwell,  who 
had  been  his  servant,  that  it  came  to  nothing.    The  heads  of  it  [Herbert, 
have  been  oft  printed,  therefore  I  shall  not  repeat  them  ;   they    94' '  iq' 
related  chiefly  to  his  legatine  power,  contrary  to  law,  to  his 
insolence  and  ambition,  his  lewd  life,  and  other   things   that 
were  brought  to  defame,  as  well  as  destroy  him. 

All  these  things  did  so  sink  his  proud  mind,  that  a  deep 
melancholy  overcame  his  spirits.     The  king  sent  him  frequent  The  king- 
assurances  of  his  favour,  which  he  received  with  extravagant  ed  }imi 
transports  of  joy,  falling  down  on  his  knees  in  the  dirt  before 
the  messenger  that  brought  one  of  them,  and  holding  up  his 
hands  for  joy,  which  shewed  how  mean  a  soul  he  had,  and 

15  The  house  of  his  see  could  not  and  chapter  of  York).     So  his  life 

be  forfeited,  or  seized.     Tt  was  con-  by  Cavendish,  chap.  18,  [p. 467  sqq.] 

veyed  over  by  him  to  the  king  (the  and  others.  [B.] 

conveyance  confirmed  by  the  dean  1(;  [6374Z.  3s.  *li.d.~\ 


142  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

that,  as  himself  afterwards  acknowledged,  he  preferred  the 
Icing'1  s  favour  to  God  Almighty's.     But  the  king  found  they 
took  little  notice  of  him  at  Rome;  the  emperor  hated  him,  and 
the  pope  did  not  love  him,  looking  on  him  as  one  that  was 
almost  equal  to  himself  in  power  :  and  though  they  did  not 
love  the  precedent  to  have  a  cardinal  so  used,  yet  they  were 
not  much  troubled  at  Rome  to  see  it  fall  on  him.    So  in  Easter- 
week  he  was  ordered  to  go  north,  though  he  had  a  great  mind 
to  have  stayed  at  Richmond,  which  the  king  had  given  him1? 
in  exchange  for  Hampton-court,  that  he  had  also  built.     But 
that  was  too  near  the  court ;  and  his  enemies  had  a  mind  to 
[Sept.         send  him  further  from  it.     Accordingly  he  went  to  Cawood 
bert°  p.  Gr  m  Yorkshire,  in  which  journey  it  appears,  that  the  ruins  of 
34°-]  his  state  were  considerable,  for  he  travelled  thither  with  an 

hundred  and  sixty  horse  in  his  train,  and  seventy-two  carts 
following  him,  with  his  household-stuff. 
He  is  after-  To  conclude  his  story  all  at  once,  he  was  in  November  the 
tachedlfor  next  year  seize(l  on  by  the  earl  of  Northumberland,  who  at- 
treason  ;  tached  him  for  high  treason,  and  committed  him  to  the  keeping 
of  the  lieutenant18  of  the  Tower,  who  was  ordered  to  bring 
him  up  to  London.  And  even  then  he  had  gracious  messages 
from  the  king :  but  these  did  not  work  much  on  him,  for  whe- 
ther it  was  that  he  knew  himself  guilty  of  some  secret  prac- 
tices with  the  pope,  or  with  the  emperor,  which  yet  he  denied 
to  the  last ;  or  whether  he  could  no  longer  stand  under  the 
king's  displeasure,  and  that  change  of  condition  ;  he  was  so 
cast  down,  that,  on  his  way  to  London,  he  sickened  at  Sheffield- 
park,  in  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury's  house,  from  whence  by  slow 
journeys  he  went  as  far  as  Leicester,  where  after  some  days 
languishing  he  died ;  and  at  the  last  made  great  protestations 
of  his  having  served  the  king  faithfully,  and  that  he  had  82 
little  regarded  the  service  of  God,  to  do  him  'pleasure ;  but  if 
he  had  served  God  as  he  had  done  him,  he  would  not  have 
given  him  over  so,  as  he  did  in  his  gray  hairs.  And  he 
desired  the  king  to  reflect  on  all  his  past  services,  and  in  jKir- 
ticular,  in  his  weighty  matter,  (for  by  that  phrase  they  usually 
spoke  of  the  king's  divorce,)  and  then  lie  would  find  in  his 

17  The    lord    Herbert    [p.  303.]  ,8  Sir  W.  Kyngston  was  constable 

says  the  king  gave  him  only  the  use  of  the  Tower.    So  Cavendish,  chap, 

of  Richmond,  which  is   more  pro-  20  [p.  530].  [B.] 
bable.   [F.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  143 

conscience  ivhether  he  had  offended  him  or  not.     He  died  the  And  dies 
twenty-eighth^  of  November,  1530,  and  was  the  greatest  in- [Nov<  29^ 
stance  that  several  ages  had  shewn  of  the  variety  and  incon- 
stancy of  human  things,  both  in  his  rise  and  fall ;  and  by  his 
temper  in  both,  it  appears  he  was  unworthy  of  his  greatness, 
and  deserved  what  he  suffered.     But,  to  conclude  all  that  is  to 
be  said  of  him,  I  shall  add  what  the  writer  of  his  life  ends  it 
Avith  :  Here  is  the  end  and  fall  of  pride  and  arrogancy ;  for  Hischarac- 
/  assure  you,  in  his  time  he  was  the  haughtiest  man  in  all  rcaven- 
his  proceedings  alive,  having  more  respect  to  the  honour  of  dish's  Life, 
his  person,  than  he  had  to  his  spiritual  jwofession,  wherein 
should  be  shewed  all  meekness  and  charity  -°. 

But  now,  with  the  change  of  this  great  minister,  there  fol-  A  parlia- 
lowed  a  change  of  counsels,  and  therefore  the  king  resolved  to  ed.rNov.3.1 
hold  a  parliament,  that  he  might  meet  his  people,  and  establish 
such  a  good  understanding  between  himself  and  them,  that  he 
might  have  all  secured  at  home  ;  and  then  he  resolved  to  pro- 
ceed more  confidently  abroad.  There  had  been  no  parliament 
for  seven  years ;  but  the  blame  of  that,  and  of  every  other 
miscarriage,  falling  naturally  on  the  disgraced  minister,  he  did 
not  doubt  that  he  should  be  able  to  give  his  people  full  satis- 
faction in  that,  and  in  every  thing  else.  So  a  parliament  was 
summoned  to  meet  the  third  of  November.  And  there,  among 
several  other  laws  that  were  made  for  the  public  good  of  the 
kingdom,  there  were  bills  sent  up  by  the  house  of  commons 
against  some  of  the  most  exorbitant  abuses  of  the  clergy  :  one 
was  against  the  exactions  for  the  probates  of  wills ;  another 
was  for  the  regulating  of  mortuaries ;  a  third  was  about  the 
plurality  of  benefices,  and  non-residence,  and  churchmen's 
being  farmers  of  lands.  In  the  passing  of  these  bills  there 
were  severe  reflections  made  on  the  vices  and  corruptions  of 
the  clergy  of  that  time,  which  were  believed  to  flow  from  men 
that  favoured  Luther's  doctrine  in  their  hearts. 

When  these  bills  were  brought  up  to  the  house  of  lords,  the  Hall.  [p. 
bishop  of  Rochester  speaking  to  them,  did  reflect  on  the  house  7    ^ 
of  commons :  saying.  That  they  were  resolved  to  bring  down 
the  church  ;  and  he  desired  they  would  consider  the  miserable 

19  The  cardinal  died  November  29,  reference  is  to  a  portrait  of  Wolsey, 

as  most  writers  agree,  so  it  is  wrong  which  in  the  first  two  folio  editions 

set  in  the  history  the  28th,  and  in  faced  p.  81.] 

the  picture  26  for  29.    [F.]     [The  -°  [See  part  3.  p.  50.] 


144  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

[Herbert,    state  of  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  to  which  it  was  reduced  by 
Ttahouse   neresy>  and  ended,  That  all  this  was  for  lack  of  faith.     But 

of  com-       this  being  afterwards  known  to  the  house  of  commons,  they 
mons  com-  ,    ,,     .  .  -mi  ah  •  i       i  •  <*     i    ■ 

plains  of     sent  their  speaker,  sir   1  nomas  Audley,  with  thirty  ot  their 

*f  EblSh°P  mcmDcrs>  to  complain  to  the  king  of  the  bishop  of  Rochester, 
ter.  for  saying,  that  their  acts  flowed  from  the  want  of  faith,  which 

was  an  high  imputation  on  the  whole  nation,  when  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  commons  was  so  charged,  as  if  they  had  been 
infidels  and  heathens.  This  was  set  on  by  the  court,  to  mortify 
that  bishop,  who  was  unacceptable  to  them,  for  his  adhering 
so  firmly  to  the  queen's  cause.  The  king  sent  for  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  six  other  bishops,  and  before  them 
told  the  complaint  of  the  commons.  But  the  bishop  of  Rochester 
excused  himself,  and  said,  he  only  meant  of  the  kingdom  of 
Bohemia,  when  he  said,  all  flowed  from  the  want  of  faith, 
and  did  not  at  all  intend  the  house  of  commons.  This  expla-  83 
nation  the  king  sent  by  the  treasurer  of  his  household,  sir 
William  Fitz-Williams.  But  though  the  matter  was  passed 
over,  yet  they  were  not  at  all  satisfied  with  it,  so  that  they 
went  on,  laying  open  the  abuses  of  the  clergy. 
Some  bills  In  the  house  of  peers  great  opposition  was  made  to  the  bills, 
formin'o-the  ano^  the  clergy  both  within  and  without  doors  did  defame  them, 
abuses  of    and  said,  these  were  the   ordinary  beo-innings  of  heresy,  to 

the  clergy.  .  ,  . 

[2 1  Hem  8,  complain  of  abuses,  and  pretend  reformation,  on  purpose  to 

cap.  5,  6.     disgrace  the  clergy,  from  which  heresy  took  its  chief  strength. 

Statutes,  &  ... 

vol.  iii.  pp.  And  the  spiritual  lords  did  generally  oppose  them,  the  tem- 

2  5'  2'  "-I  poral  lords  being  no  less  earnest  to  have  them  passed.  The 
cardinal  was  admitted  to  sit  in  the  house,  where  he  shewed 
himself  as  submissive  in  his  fawning,  as  he  had  formerly  done 
in  his  scorn  and  contempt  of  all  who  durst  oppose  him.  But 
the  king  set  the  bills  forward;  and,  in  the  end,  they  were 
agreed  to  by  the  lords,  and  had  the  royal  assent. 

The  king  intended  by  this  to  let  the  pope  sec  what  he  could 
do  if  he  went  on  to  offend  him,  and  how  willingly  his  parlia- 
ment would  concur  with  him,  if  he  went  to  extremities.  He 
did  also  endear  himself  much  to  the  people,  by  relieving  them 
from  the  oppressions  of  the  clergy.  But  the  clergy  lost  much 
by  this  means ;  for  these  acts  did  not  only  lessen  their  present 
profits,  but  did  open  the  way  for  other  things,  that  were  more 
to  their  detriment  afterward.  Their  opposing  of  this,  and  all 
other  motions  for  reformation,  did  very  much  increase  the  pre- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1529.)  145 

judices  that  were  conceived  against  them  :  whereas  if  such 
motions  had  either  risen  from  themselves,  or  had  at  least  been 
cherished  by  them,  their  adversaries  had  not  perhaps  been  so 
favourably  heard ;  so  fatally  did  they  mistake  their  true  in- 
terest, when  they  thought  they  were  concerned  to  link  with  it 
all  abuses  and  corruptions. 

But  there  passed  another  bill  in  this  parliament,  which,  be-  One  act, 
cause  of  its  singular  nature20,  and  that  it  was  not  printed  with  the  king^f 
the  other  statutes,  shall  be  found  in  the  Collection  of  instru-  his  debts. 

Collect. 

ments  at  the  end.  The  bill  bore  in  a  preamble  the  highest  Numb  31. 
flattery  that  could  be  put  in  paper,  of  the  great  things  the 
king  had  done  for  the  church  and  nation,  in  which  he  had 
been  at  vast  charges ;  and  that  divers  of  the  subjects  had  lent 
great  sums  of  money,  which  had  been  all  well  employed  in  the 
public  service ;  and  whereas  they  had  security  for  their  pay- 
ment, the  parliament  did  offer  all  these  sums  so  lent  to  the 
king,  and  discharged  him  of  all  the  obligations  or  assignations 
made  for  their  payment,  and  of  all  suits  that  might  arise 
thereupon. 

This  was  brought  into  the  house  by  the  king's  servants,  who 
enlarged  much  on  the  wealth  and  peace  of  the  nation,  notwith- 
standing the  wars,  the  king  always  making  his  enemies'  country 
the  scene  of  them ;  and  shewed,  that  for  fourteen  years  the 
king  had  but  one  subsidy  from  his  people ;  that  now  he  asked 
nothing  for  any  other  purpose,  but  only  to  be  discharged  of  a 
debt  contracted  for  the  public,  the  accounts  whereof  were 
shewn,  by  Avhich  they  might  see  to  what  uses  the  money  so 
raised  had  been  applied.  But  there  were  several  ends  in  pass- 
ing this  bill :  those  of  the  court  did  not  only  intend  to  deliver 
the  king  from  a  charge  by  it,  but  also  to  ruin  all  the  cardinal's 
friends  and  creatures,  whom  he  had  caused  every  where  to 
84  advance  great  sums,  for  an  example  to  others.  Others  in  the 
house,  that  were  convinced  that  the  act  was  unjust  in  itself, 
yet  did  easily  give  way  to  it,  that  they  might  effectually  for 
the  future  discredit  that  way  of  raising  money  by  loans,  as 
judging  it  to  be  the  public  interest  of  the  kingdom,  that  no 

20  This  bill  was  not  singular,  for  Statutes,  [vol.  iii.  p.  970.]  an.  1544, 

an.  35  Hen.  VIII.  there  passed  a  being  an  act  for  the  remission   of 

bill  of  the  like  or  an  higher  nature,  the  loan,  an.  35  Hen.  VIII.  cap.  12. 

which    is   printed   in   the   book   of  [B.] 

BURNET,  TART  I.  L 


146  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

sums  of  money  should  be  raised  but  by  parliament.  So  this 
act  passed,  and  occasioned  great  murmuring  among  all  them 
that  suffered  by  it.  But,  to  qualify  the  general  discontent, 
the  king  gave  a  free  pardon  to  his  subjects  for  all  offences, 
some  capital  ones  only  excepted,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases ; 
and,  to  keep  the  clergy  under  the  lash,  all  transgressions 
against  the  statutes  of  jyrovisors  and  praemunire  were  ex- 
cepted, in  which  they  were  all  involved,  as  will  afterwards 
appear.  There  are  two  other  exceptions  in  this  pardon,  not 
fit  to  be  omitted :  the  one  is,  of  the  pulling  or  digging  down 
crosses  on  the  highways,  which  shews  what  a  spirit  was  then 
stirring  among  the  people  ;  the  other  is,  of  the  forfeitures  that 
accrued  to  the  king  by  the  prosecution  against  cardinal  Wolsey, 
that  is,  the  cardinal's  college  in  Oxford,  with  the  lands  belong- 
ing to  it,  which  are  excepted,  upon  which  the  dean  and  canons 
resigned  their  lands  to  the  king,  the  original  of  which  is  yet 
extant :  but  the  king  founded  the  college  anew  soon  after.  All 
this  was  done,  both  to  keep  the  clergy  quiet,  and  to  engage 
them  to  use  what  interest  they  had  in  the  court  of  Rome,  to 
dispose  the  pope  to  use  the  king  better  in  his  great  suit.  After 
those  acts  were  passed,  on  the  seventeenth  of  December  the 
parliament  was  prorogued  till  April  following  ;  yet  it  did  not 
sit  till  January  after  that,  being  continued  by  several  proroga- 
tions. 

There  had  been  great  industry  used  in  carrying  elections 
for  the  parliament,  and  they  were  so  successful,  that  the  king- 
was  resolved  to  continue  it  for  some  time.     This  great  business 
being  happily  over,  the  king's  thoughts  turned  next  to  affairs 
The  pope    bey ond  sea.     The  whole  world  was  now  at  peace.     The  pope 
emperor      an(^  *ne  emPeror  (as  was  said  before)  had  made  an  alliance  on 
firmly         terms  of  such  advantage  to  the  pope,  that  as  the  emperor  did 
June  20.     fu%  repair  all  past  injuries,  so  he  laid  new  and  great  obliga- 
tions on  him  :  for  he  engaged  that  he  would  assist  him  in  the 
recovery  of  his  towns,  and  that  he  would  restore  his  family  to 
the  government  of  Florence,  and  invest  his  nephew  in  it  with 
the  title  of  duke,  to  whose  son  he  would  marry  his  own  natural 
daughter ;  and  that  he  would  hold  the  kingdom  of  Naples  of 
the  papacy.     These  were  the  motives  that  directed  the  pope's 
conscience  so  infallibly  in  the  king's  business.     Not  long  after 
that,  in  August,  another  peace  was  made  in  Cambray,  between 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  147 

the  emperor  and  the  French  king,  and  lady  Margaret,   the  The  wo- 
emperor's  aunt,  and  regent  of  Flanders-1:   where  the  kmffmens 

10  0  peace. 

first  found  the  hollowness  of  the  French  friendship  and  alliance ;  Aug.  5. 

for  he  was  not  so  much  considered  in  it  as  he  expected,  and  he  p  f^ei  ' 

clearly  perceived  that  Francis  would  not  embroil  his  own  affairs  Hall>  P- 
.         J  l       ,  .■     .  762.] 

to  carry  on  his  divorce. 

The  emperor  went  over  into  Italy,  and  met  the  pope  at  The  empe- 

Bologna,  where  he  was  crowned  with  great  magnificence.    The  nation  at" 

pope  and  he  lodged  together  in  the  same  palace,  and  there  Bologna. 

appeared  such  signs  of  a  familiar  friendship  between  them,  764.]' 

that  the  king's  ambassadors  did  now  clearly  perceive  that  they 

were  firmly  united.     The  emperor  did  also,  by  a  rare  mixture 

85  of  generosity  and  prudence,  restore  the  duchy  of  Milan  to 

Francis  Sforza.     By  this  he  settled  the  peace  of  Italy,  nothing  Florence 

holding  out  but  Florence,  which  he  knew  would  be  soon  re-  taken> 

°  August  9. 

duced,  when  there  was  no  hope  of  succour  from  France ;  and  pope's  ne- 
accorclingly,    after    eleven   months'    siege,  it  was  taken,   and  ^ke  of  it 
within  a  year  after  Alexander  de  Medici  was  made  duke  of  it.  July  17, 
About  the  time  that  the  emperor  came  to  Bologna,  news  was  sleo-eofVi- 
brought  that  the  Turk  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Vienna:  enna  raised, 

,  „     ,  .  ,  ,  .       ,  ,  •    ,  »     Octob.  14, 

so  that  all  things  concurred  to  raise  his  glory  very  high.     At  1529. [Hall, 

Bologna  he  would  needs  receive  the  two  crowns  of  the  Roman  £  77I'J 

P  m  m  Emperor 

empire,  that  of  Milan,  and  that  of  Rome,  which  was  done  with  crowned 
all  the  magnificence  possible,  the  pope  himself  saying  mass  Lombardy 
both  in  Latin  and  Greek.     There  is  one  ceremony  of  the  coro-  Feb.  22, 
nation  fit  to  be  taken  notice  of  in  this  work ;  that  the  emperor  Romi  emp> 
was  first  put  in  the  habit  of  a  canon  of  Sancta  Maria  de  la  Feb-  24- 
Torre  in  Rome,  and  after  that  in  the  habit  of  a  deacon,  to  p,  319.]  ' 
make  him  be  looked  on  as  an  ecclesiastical  person.     This  had 
risen  out  of  an  extravagant  vanity  of  the  court  of  Rome,  who 
devised  such  rites  to  raise  their  reputation  so  high,  that,  on 
the  greatest  solemnity,  the  emperor  should  appear  in  the  habit 
of  the  lowest  of  the  sacred  orders,  by  which  he  must  know, 
that  priests  and  bishops  are  above  him.     When  the  pope  and 
he  first  met,  the  ceremony  of  kissing  the  pope's  foot  was  much 
looked  for,  and  the  emperor  very  gently  kneeled  to  pay  that 
submission ;  but  the  pope  (whether  it  was  that  he  thought  it 

21  [The  author  appears  accidentally  France,  who  was  one  of  the  two 
to  have  omitted  the  name  of  Louise,  ladies  from  whom  the  treaty  was 
mother  of  Francis   and  regent   of     called  lapaix  des  dames.'] 

L  2 


148  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

was  no  more  seasonable  to  expect  such  compliments,  or  more 
signally  to  oblige  the  emperor)  did  humble  himself  so  far  as  to 
draw  in  his  foot,  and  kiss  his  cheek. 
The  king         But  now  the  divorce  was  to  be  managed  in  another  method, 
universities  an(^  therefore  Cranmer,  after  he  had  discoursed  with  the  king 
about  his     about  that   proposition   which   was  formerly  mentioned,   was 
commanded  by  him  to  write  a  book21  for  his  opinion,  and  con- 
firm it  with  as  much  authority  as  he  could ;  and  was  recom- 
mended to  the  care  of  the  earl  of  Wiltshire  and  Orinond,  (to 
which  honour  the  king  had  advanced  sir  Thomas  Boleyn  in  the 
right  of  his  mother,)  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  he 
published  his  book  about  it.     Richard  Croke  (who  was  tutor 
to  the  duke  of  Richmond)  was  sent  into  Italy,  and  others  were 
sent  to  France  and  Germany,  to  consult  the  divines,  canonists, 
and  other  learned  men  in  the  universities,  about  the  king^ 
business.     How  the  rest  managed  the  matter,  I  have  not  yet 
been  able  to  discover ;  but  from  a  great  number  of  original 
letters  of  Dr.  Croke's,  I  shall  give  a  full  account  of  his  ne- 
gotiation.    It  was  thought  best  to  begin  at  home ;  and  there- 
fore the  king  wrote  to  the  two  universities  in  England,  to  send 
him  their  conclusions  about  it.     The  matters  went  at  Oxford 
Lord  Her-   thus.     The  bishop  of  Lincoln  being  sent  thither  with  the  king's 
out  of  the    letters  for  their  resolution,  it  was  by  the  major  vote  of  the 
record.        convocation  of  all  the  doctors  and  masters,  as  well  regents  as 
1530.   '       non-regents,  committed  to  thirty-three  doctors  and  bachelors 
of  divinity,  (who  were  named  by  their  own  faculty,)  or  to  the 
greater  number  of  them,  to  determine  the  questions  that  were 
sent  with  the  king's  letters,  and  to  set  the  common  seal  of  the 
university  to  their  conclusions ;  and  by  virtue  of  that  warrant, 
they  did  on  the  eighth  of  April  put  the  common  seal  of  the 
university  to  an  instrument,   declaring  the  marriage  of  the 
brother's  wife  to  be  both  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and 
Vid.Wood,  nature.     The  collector  of  the  Antiquities  of  Oxford  informs  us 
L-'/i  p'      of  the  uneasiness  that  was  in  the  university  in  this  matter,  and  86 
of  the  several  messages  the  king  sent  before  that  instrument 

21  This  book  is  in  the  end  of  it  in  several  places  of  it,  do  all  bear 

said  to  be  printed  1530,  in  April,  date  after  that  April,  except  those 

but  it  seems  an  error  for  1531 ;  for  made  by  those  of  Oxford  and#Or- 

the    censures    of    the   universities,  leans.    [F.] 
which  are  printed  in  and  mentioned 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  149 

could  be  procured,  so  that  from  the  twelfth  of  February  to  the 
eighth  of  April  the  matter  was  in  agitation,  the  masters  of  arts 
generally  opposing  it,  though  the  doctors  and  heads  were,  for 
the  greatest  part,  for  it.  But  after  he  has  set  down  the  in-  [Ibid.  p. 
strument,  he  gives  some  reasons  (upon  what  design  I  cannot 
easily  imagine)  to  shew  that  this  was  extorted  by  force ;  and 
being  done  without  the  consent  of  the  masters  of  arts,  was  of 
itself  void,  and  of  no  force  :  and,  as  if  it  had  been  an  ill  thing, 
he  takes  pains  to  purge  the  university  of  it,  and  lays  it  upon 
the  fears  and  corruptions  of  some  aspiring  men  of  the  univer- 
sity :  and,  without  any  proof,  gives  credit  to  a  lying  story  set 
down  by  Sanders 2'2,  of  an  assembly  called  in  the  night,  in 
which  the  seal  of  the  university  was  set  to  the  determination. 
But  it  appears  that  he  had  never  seen  or  considered  the  other 
instrument,  to  which  the  university  set  their  seal,  that  was 
agreed  on  in  a  convocation  of  all  the  doctors  and  masters,  as 
well  regents  as  non-regents  ;  giving  power  to  these  doctors  and 
bachelors  of  divinity  to  determine  the  matter,  and  to  set  the 
seal  of  the  university  to  their  conclusion  :  the  original  whereof 
the  lord  Herbert  saw,  upon  which  the  persons  so  deputed  had 
full  authority  to  set  the  university  seal  to  that  conclusion,  with- 
out a  new  convocation.  Perhaps  that  instrument  was  not  so 
carefully  preserved  among  their  records,  or  was  in  queen 
Mary's  days  taken  away,  which  might  occasion  these  mistakes 
in  their  historian. 

There  seems  to  be  also  another  mistake  in  the  relation  he 
gives :  for  he  says,  those  of  Paris  had  determined  in  this  matter 
before  it  was  agreed  to  at  Oxford.  The  printed  decision  of  the 
Sorbonne  contradicts  this  :  for  it  bears  date  the  second  of 
July,  1530,  whereas  this  was  done  the  eighth  of  April,  1530. 
But  what  passed  at  Cambridge  I  shall  set  down  more  fully  from 

22   Your  lordship  is   very  hard  authors  whose  manuscripts  he  pe- 

upon    the   Oxford   historian.      He  rused,  who  are  of  no  better  credit 

had   other  vouchers    besides   San-  than  Sanders  himself,  such  as  Harps- 

ders ;  one  of  which  I  have  seen  in  field  and  others  of  the  like  credit. 

MS.,  but  do  not  commend  his  pru-  And  I  am  satisfied  that  he  had  no 

dence  in  the  representation  of  that  other  design  in  what  he  writ  but  to 

matter.    [B.]  set  down  things  as  he  found  them 

What  is  said  concerning  the  au-  in  the  authors  he  made  use  of.  [Au- 
thor of  the  Antiquities   of  Oxford  thor.] 

has  been  much  complained  of  by         [See  Anthony  Wood's  reply  to 

him.  [F.]     I  find  he  has  authorities  the  author,  in  the  Appendix  at  the 

for  what  he  said,  but  they  are  from  end  of  the  third  volume.] 


150  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Collect.  an  original  letter  written  by  Gardiner  and  Fox  to  the  king  in 
um)'  32'  February,  (but  the  day  is  not  marked.)  When  they  came  to 
And  at  Cambridge23,  they  spake  to  the  vice-chancellor,  whom  they 
Feb.  '  found  very  ready  to  serve  the  king ;  so  was  also  Bonner24  (whom 
they  call  doctor  Edmunds),  and  several  others ;  but  there  was  a 
contrary  party  that  met  together,  and  resolved  to  oppose  them. 
A  meeting  of  the  doctors,  bachelors  of  divinity,  and  masters  of 
arts,  in  all  about  two  hundred,  was  held.  There  the  king's 
letters  were  read,  and  the  vice-chancellor  calling  upon  several 
of  them  to  deliver  their  opinions  about  it,  they  answered  as 
their  affections  led  them,  and  were  in  some  disorder.  But  it 
being  proposed,  that  the  answering  the  king's  letter,  and  the 
questions  in  it,  should  be  referred  to  some  indifferent  men ; 
great  exceptions  were  made  to  Dr.  Salcot,  doctor  Reps,  and 
Crome,  and  all  others  who  had  approved  Dr.  Cranmer's  book, 
as  having  already  declared  themselves  partial.  But  to  that  it 
was  answered,  that  after  a  thing  was  so  much  discoursed  of,  as 
the  king's  matter  had  been,  it  could  not  be  imagined  that  any 
number  of  men  could  be  found  who  had  not  declared  their 
judgment  about  it  one  way  or  another.     Much  time  was  spent 

23  Your  lordship  having  been  seems  Fox  was  sent  down  there 
very  nice  in  placing  the  determina-  likewise)  '  was  there  in  great  jeo- 
tion  of  Oxford  before  that  of  the  pardy.'  That  is  the  word  which  I 
Sorbonne,  I  presume  your  lordship  suppose  implies  danger.  [B.] 
meant  the  same  exactness  in  placing  24  Bonner  was  not  of  Cambridge, 
Oxford  before  Cambridge.  And  but  of  Broadgate  hall  in  Oxford ; 
yet  it  passed  here  before  it  did  at  and  though  called  Dr.  Edmunds 
Oxford,  and  was  delivered  to  the  from  his  font-name  in  the  life  of 
king  at  Windsor  before  Palm  Sun-  Wolsey  by  Cavendish,  and  perhaps 
day  by  Dr.  Buckmaster,  Vice-chan-  vulgarly,  as  Stephen  Gardiner  was 
cellor,  &c,  an.  1529-30.  I  have  a  Mr.  Stevens  in  Wolsey's  letter  ; 
letter  from  Dr.  Buckmaster  to  Dr.  yet  it  seems  unlikely  that  he  alone 
Edmunds,  master  of  Peter-house,  the  in  the  grace  should  be  written  by 
same  whom  your  lordship  mistakes  his  font-name,  when  all  the  others 
for  Edmund  Bonner,  dated  from  were  by  their  surname.  And  there- 
Cambridge  in  crastino  Dominica  fore  we  have  reason  to  think  that 
Palmarum,  after  his  return  from  this  Dr.  Edmunds  was  John  Ed- 
Windsor,  giving  some  account  of  munds,  at  that  time  master  of  Peter- 
that  matter,  not  very  much  to  our  house,  and  of  great  note  in  the  uni- 
advantage.  But  I  will  not  imitate  versity,  as  we  may  guess  from  the 
the  Oxford  historian,  though  I  may  frequency  of  his  being  Vice-chan- 
do  him  this  right  to  say,  that  in  the  cellor,  viz.  in  the  years  1521,  1526, 
conclusion  of  his  letter,  speaking  of  1527  and  1540.  [G.] 
the  proceedings  at  Oxford,  which  it  Bonner  was  an  Oxford  man,  but 
seems  were  tumultuary,  he  adds,  '  I  this  was  Dr.  Edmunds,  master  of 
hear  say  also  that  Mr.  Provost'  (it  Peter-house.    [S.] 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  151 

in  the  debate  ;  but  when  it  grew  late,  the  vice-chancellor  com- 
manded every  man  to  take  his  place,  and  to  give  his  voice, 
whether  they  would  agree  to  the  motion  of  referring  it  to  a 
select  body  of  men  :  but  that  night  they  would  not  agree  to  it. 
87  The  congregation  being  adjourned  till  next  day,  the  vice- 
chancellor  offered  a  grace  (or  order)  to  refer  the  matter  to 
twenty-nine  persons,  (himself,  ten  doctors,  and  sixteen'-5  bache- 
lors, and  the  two  proctors,)  That  (the  questions  being  publicly 
disputed)  what  two  parts  of  three  agreed  to,  should  be  read  in 
a  congregation,  and  without  any  further  debate  the  common 
seal  of  the  university  should  be  set  to  it.  Yet  it  was  at  first 
denied ;  then  being  put  to  the  vote,  it  was  carried  equally  on 
both  sides.  But  being  a  third  time  proposed,  it  was  carried 
for  the  divorce.  Of  which  an  account  was  presently  sent  to 
the  king,  with  a  schedule  of  their  names  to  whom  it  was  com- 
mitted, and  what  was  to  be  expected  from  them  ;  so  that  it 
was  at  length  determined,  though  not  without  opposition,  That 
the  king's  marriage  was  against  the  law  of  God. 

It  is  thought  strange,  that  the  king,  who  was  otherwise  so  Though 
absolute  in  England,  should  have  met  with  more  difficulty  in  difficulty. 
this  matter  at  home  than  he  did  abroad.  But  the  most  reason- 
able account  I  can  give  of  it  is,  that  at  this  time  there  were 
many  in  the  universities  (particularly  at  Cambridge)  who  were 
addicted  to  Luther's  doctrine.  And  of  those  Cranracr  was 
looked  on  as  the  most  learned  :  so  that  Crome,  Shaxton,  Lati- 
mer, and  others  of  that  society,  favoured  the  king's  cause  ; 
besides  that,  Anne  Boleyn  had  in  the  duchess  of  Alencon's 
court  (who  inclined  to  the  reformation)  received  such  impres- 
sions as  made  them  fear,  that  her  greatness,  and  Cranmer's 
preferment,  would  encourage  heresy ;  to  which  the  universities 
were  furiously  averse,  and  therefore  they  did  resist  all  con- 
clusions that  might  promote  the  divorce. 

But  as  for  Croke  in  Italy,  he  being  very  learned  in  the  Croke  em- 
Greek  tongue,  was  first  sent  to  Venice,  to  search  the  Greek  Venice. 
manuscripts  that  lav  in  the  library  of  St.  Mark,  and  to  examine  Croke's 

/»    1  '  -it  •  •  1  negotia- 

ble decrees  of  the  ancient  councils  :  he  went  incognito,  without  tion,  taken 

any  character  from  the  king* ;  only  he  had  a  letter  recom-  f™.m  mim^ 

J  o  '  •>  01  Ins  ongi- 

mending  him  to  the  care  of  John  Cassali,  then  ambassador  at  nal  letters. 

25  Skip,  Hadway,  Deye,  Bayne,  pose  by  magistri  in  theologid  may 
&e.  were  only  masters  of  arts,  as  be  meant  masters  of  arts  that  were 
appears  by  the  register.     So  I  sup-      divines  as  well  as  bachelors.    [B.] 


152  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

Cott  libr.  Venice,  to  procure  him  an  admittance  into  the  libraries  there, 
xiii  pDas-  ^u*  m  au<  u*s  ^e^crs  ne  complained  mightily  of  his  poverty, 
aim.]  that  he  had  scarce  whereby  to  live  and  pay  the  copiers  whom 

he  employed  to  transcribe  passages  out  of  MSS.  He  stayed 
some  time  at  Venice,  from  whence  he  went  to  Padua,  Bologna, 
and  other  towns,  where  he  only  talked  with  divines  and  canon- 
ists about  these  questions  :  Whether  the  precepts  in  Leviticus 
of  the  degrees  of  marriage  do  still  oblige  Christians  ?  And 
whether  the  pope's  dispensation  could  have  any  force  against 
the  laiu  of  God  ?  These  he  proposed  in  discourse,  without 
mentioning  the  king  of  England,  or  giving  the  least  intimation 
that  he  was  sent  by  him,  till  he  once  discovered  their  opinions. 
But  finding  them  generally  inclining  to  the  king's  cause,  he 
took  more  courage,  and  went  to  Rome ;  where  he  sought  to 
be  made  a  penitentiary  priest,  that  he  might  have  the  freer 
access  into  libraries,  and  be  looked  on  as  one  of  the  pope's 
[ibid.  fol.  servants.  But  at  this  time  the  earl  of  Wiltshire,  and  Stokes- 
ii.  prmted  w  (wh0  was  made  bishop  of  London'-6,  Tunstall  beine;  trans- 

in  State  J '  ,v  L  ....  _     .         &  . 

Papers, vol.  lated  to  Durham,)  were  sent  by  the  king  into  Italy,  ambassa- 
vii.  p.  229.]  sac[ors  t>0th  to  the  pope  and  emperor.     Cranmer  went  with 
them  to  justify  his   book   in   both  these    courts.      Stokesley 
brought  full  instructions  to  Croke  to  search  the  writings  of 
most  of  the  fathers  on  a  great  many  passages  of  the  scripture ; 
and,  in  particular,  to  try  what  they  wrote  on  that   law  in 
[Deut.  xxv.  Deuteronomy,  which  provided,  that  when  one  died  without  88 
5'J  children,  his  brother  should  marry  his  wife  to  raise  up  chil- 

dren to  him.  This  was  most  pressed  against  the  king  by  all 
that  were  for  the  queen,  as  either  an  abrogation  of  the  other 
law  in  Leviticus,  or  at  least  a  dispensation  with  it  in  that  par- 
ticular case.  He  was  also  to  consult  the  Jews  about  it ;  and 
was  to  copy  out  every  thing  that  he  found  in  any  manuscript 
of  the  Greek  or  Latin  fathers,  relating  to  the  degrees  of  mar- 
riage. Of  this  labour  he  complained  heavily,  and  said,  that 
though  he  had  a  great  task  laid  on  him,  yet  his  allowance  was 
so  small,  that  he  was  often  in  great  straits.  This  I  take  notice 
of,  because  it  is  said  by  others,  that  all  the  subscriptions  that 
he  procured  were  bought.      At  this  time  there  were  great 

2r>  [The  date  of  the  letter  from  stall  was  not  yet  translated  to  Dnr- 

which  the  author  took  this  was  Jan.  ham.      Stokesley   was   consecrated 

20,  1, ",30.     In  it  Stokesley  is  men-  bp.  of  London,  Nov.  27,  1530.] 
tioned   by  name.     Moreover  Tun- 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  153 

animosities  between  the  ministers  whom  the  king  employed  in 
Italy ;  the  two  families  of  the  Cassali  and  the  Ghinucci  hating 
one  another.  Of  the  former  family  were  the  ambassadors  at 
Rome  and  at  Venice.  Of  the  other,  Jerome  was  bishop  of 
Worcester,  and  had  been  in  several  embassies  into  Spain.  His 
brother  Peter  was  also  employed  in  some  of  the  little  courts  of 
Italy,  as  the  king's  agent.  Whether  the  king  out  of  policy 
kept  this  hatred  up,  to  make  them  spies  one  on  another,  I 
know  not.  To  the  Ghinucci  was  Croke  gained,  so  that  in  all 
his  letters  he  complained  of  the  Cassali,  as  men  that  betrayed 
the  king's  affairs ;  and  said,  that  John,  then  ambassador  at 
Venice,  not  only  gave  him  no  assistance,  but  used  him  ill :  and 
publicly  discovered,  that  he  was  employed  by  the  king ;  which 
made  many,  who  had  formerly  spoken  their  minds  freely,  be 
more  reserved  to  him.  But  as  he  wrote  this  to  the  king,  he 
begged  of  him,  that  it  might  not  be  known,  otherwise  he  ex- 
pected either  to  be  killed,  or  poisoned  by  them  :  yet  they  had 
their  correspondents  about  the  king,  by  whose  means  they 
understood  what  Croke  had  informed  against  them.  But 
they  wrote  to  the  king,  that  he  was  so  morose  and  ill-natured, 
that  nothing  could  please  him :  and,  to  lessen  his  credit,  they 
did  all  they  could  to  stop  his  bills.  All  this  is  more  fully  set 
down  than  perhaps  was  necessary,  if  it  were  not  to  shew  that 
he  was  not  in  a  condition  to  corrupt  so  many  divines,  and  whole 
universities,  as  some  have  given  out.  He  got  into  the  acquaint- 
ance of  a  friar  at  Venice,  Franciscus  Georgius,  who  had  lived 
forty-nine  years  in  a  religious  order,  and  was  esteemed  the 
most  learned  man  in  the  republic,  not  only  in  the  vulgar  learn- 
ing, but  in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew,  and  was  so  much  accounted 
of  by  the  pope,  that  he  called  him  the  hammer  of  heretics. 
He  was  also  of  the  senatorian  quality,  and  his  brother  was 
governor  of  Padua,  and  paid  all  the  readers  there.  This  friar 
had  a  great  opinion  of  the  king :  and,  having  studied  the  case, 
wrote  for  the  king's  cause,  and  endeavoured  to  satisfy  all  the 
other  divines  of  the  republic,  among  whom  he  had  much  credit. 
Thomas  Omnibonus,  a  Dominican,  Philippus  de  Cremis,  a  Many  in 
doctor  of  the  law,  Valerius  of  Bergamo,  and  some  others,  wrote  ft*^1wnt9 
for  the  king's  cause.  Many  of  the  Jewish  rabbins  did  give  it  king's 
under  their  hands  in  Hebrew,  That  the  laivs  of  Leviticus  and 
Deuteronomy  ivere  thus  to  be  reconciled:  That  law  of  marry- 
ing the  brother's  wife,  when  he  died  tuithout  children,  did 


154  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

only  bind  in  the  land  of  Judea,  to  preserve  families,  and 
maintain  their  successions  in  the  land,  as  it  had  been  divided 
by  lot :  but  that  in  all  other  places  of  the  world,  the  law  of 
Leviticus,  of  not  marrying  the  brother's  wife,  was  obligatory. 
He  also  searched  all  tlic  Greek  MSS.  of  councils,  and  Nazian- 
zen's  and  Chrysostom's  works.  After  that,  he  ran  over  Ma-  89 
carius,  Acacius,  Apollinaris,  Origen,  Gregory  Nyssen,  Cyril, 
Severian,  and  Gennadius  ;  and  copied  out  of  them  all  that 
which  was  pertinent  to  his  purpose.  He  procured  several 
hands  to  the  conclusions,  before  it  was  known  that  it  was  the 
king's  business  in  which  he  was  employed.  But  the  govern- 
ment of  Venice  was  so  strict,  that,  when  it  was  known  whose 
agent  he  was,  he  found  it  not  easy  to  procure  subscriptions : 
therefore  he  advised  the  king  to  order  his  minister  to  procure 
a  license  from  the  senate,  for  their  divines  to  declare  their 
Feb.  18.  opinions  in  that  matter.  Which  being  proposed  to  the  senate, 
all  the  answer  he  could  obtain  was,  that  they  would  be  neu- 
trals;  and  when  the  ambassador  pressed,  as  an  evidence  of 
neutrality,  that  the  senate  would  leave  it  free  to  their  divines 
to  declare  of  either  side  as  their  consciences  led  them ;  he 
could  procure  no  other  answer,  the  former  being  again  re- 
peated. Yet  the  senate  making  no  prohibition,  many  of  their 
divines  put  their  hands  to  the  conclusions.  And  Croke  had 
that  success,  that  he  wrote  to  the  king,  he  had  never  met  with 
Though  the  a  divine  that  did  not  favour  his  cause :  but  the  conclusions 
emperor*1  touching  the  pope's  power  his  agents  did  every  where  dis- 
discouraged  courage,  and  threaten  those  who  subscribed  them.  And  the 
July  4.  emperor's  ambassador  at  Venice  did  threaten  Omnibonus  for 
[Herbert,  writing  in  prejudice  of  the  pope's  authority  ;  and  asserting 
conclusions,  which  would  make  most  of  the  princes  of  Europe 
bastards.  He  answered,  he  did  not  consider  things  as  a  states- 
man, but  as  a  divine.  Yet,  to  take  off  this  fear,  Croke  sug- 
gested to  the  king,  to  order  his  minister  at  the  court  of  Rome 
to  procure  a  breve,  "  That  divines  or  canonists  might  without 
"  fear  or  hazard  deliver  their  opinions  according  to  their  con- 
"  sciences,  requiring  them,  under  the  pain  of  excommunication, 
"  that  they  should  write  nothing  for  gain,  or  partial  affections, 
"  but  say  the  pure  and  simple  truth,  without  any  artifice,  as 
"  they  would  answer  to  God  in  the  great  day  of  judgment." 
This  seemed  so  fair,  that  it  might  have  been  expected  the  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter  would  not  deny  it ;  yet  it  was  not  easily 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  155 

obtained,  though  the  king  wrote  a  very  earnest  letter  to  the  Aug.  7. 
bishop  of  Verona,  to  assist  his  minister  in  procuring  it.     And 
I  find  by  another  despatch,  that   the  breve  was  at   length  Sept.  16. 
gained,  not  without  much  opposition  made  to  it  by  the  em- 
peror's ambassadors  :  for  at  Rome,  though  they  knew  not  well 
how  to  oppose  this  method,  because  it  seemed  so  very  reason- 
able ;   yet  they  had  great  apprehensions  of  it,  because  they 
thought  it  was  designed  to  force  the  pope  to  determine  as  the 
king  pleased :    and  they  abhorred  the  precedent,  that  a  com- 
pany of  poor  friars  should  dictate  to  them  in  matters  of  this 
nature.      Croke  reports,  out  of  a  letter  of  Cranmer's  to  him  July  28. 
from  Rome,  these  words :  As  for  our  successes  here,  they  be 
very  little,  nor  dare  we  attempt  to  knoiv  any  man's  mind, 
because  of  the  pope ;  nor  is  he  content  with  what  you  have 
done ;  and  he  says,  no  friars  shall  discuss  his  power :  and 
as  for  any  favour  in  this  court,  I  look  for  none,  but  to  have 
the  pope  with  all  his  cardinals  declare  against  us.      But 
Croke,  as  he  went  up  and  down  procuring  hands,  told  these  Aug.  5. 
he  came  to,  he  desired  they  would  write  their  conclusions  ac- 
cording to  learning  and  conscience,  ivithout  any  respect  or 
favour,  as  they  would  answer  it  at  the  last  day :  and  pro-  No  money 
tested  he  never  gave,  nor  promised  any  divine 26  any  thing,  till  ^J\\en\oT 
lie  had  first  freely  written  his  mind,  and  that  what  he  then  subscrip- 
gave  was  rather  an  honourable  present  than  a  reward.     And 
90  in  another  letter  to  the  king  he  writes  :    Upon  pain  of  my  Sept.  7. 
head,  if  the  contrary  be  proved,  I  never  gave  any  man  one 
halfpenny  before  I  had  his  conclusion  to  your  highness,  with- 
out former  i^r  ay  er,  or  promise  of  reward  for  the  same.    From 
whence  it  appears,  that  he  not  only  had  no  orders  from  the 
king  to  corrupt  divines,  but  that  his  orders  were  express  to 
the  contrary. 

As  for  the  money  he  gave,  the  reader  will  be  best  able  to 
judge,  by  the  following  account,  whether  it  was  such  as  could 
work  much  on  any  man.     There  is  an  original  bill  of  his  ac-  Feb.  8. 
counts  yet  extant,  audited  and  signed  by  Peter  a  Ghinucciis, 
out  of  which  I  have  extracted  these  particulars :    Item,  to  a 

26  The  act  of  parliament  an.  1.  threatenings,  &c.  on  our  own.  There 
Mar.   cap.  1.    [Statutes,  vol.  iv.  p.  are  several  private  authorities  to  the 
200.]     charges      corruption     with  same  purpose;   but  I  am  not  con- 
money  ...  on  the  foreign  universi-  cerned  to  make  them  good.  [B.] 
ties  .  .  .  and  sinister  working,  secret 


156 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Only  some 
small  ac- 
knowledg- 
ments : 


Feb.  22. 


Feb.  9. 


Sept.  16. 


But  great 
rewards 
given  by 
the  empe- 
ror. 

Sept.  29. 


Feb.  18. 


Servite  friar  when  he  subscribed,  one  crown.  To  a  Jew,  one 
crown.  To  the  doctors  of  the  Servites,  two  crowns.  To  the 
Observant  friars,  two  crowns.  To  the  prior  of  St.  John  and 
St.  Paul's,  who  wrote  for  the  king's  cause,  fifteen  crowns.  To 
that  convent,  four  crowns.  Item,  Given  to  John  Maria  for 
his  expense  of  going  to  Milan  from  Venice,  and  for  rewarding 
the  doctors  there,  thirty  croiuns.  Item,  to  John  Marino, 
minister  of  the  Franciscans,  who  wrote  a  book  for  the  king's 
cause,  twenty  crowns.  This  shews  that  they  must  have  had 
very  prostituted  consciences,  if  they  could  be  hired  so  cheap. 
It  is  true,  Croke  in  many  of  his  letters  says,  That,  if  he  had 
money  enough,  he  did  not  doubt  but  he  should  get  the  hands 
of  all  the  divines  in  Italy ;  for  he  found  the  greatest  part  of 
them  all  mercenary.  But  the  bishop  of  Worcester,  in  his 
letters  to  him,  ordered  him  only  to  promise  rewards  to  those 
who  expected  them,  and  lived  by  them,  that  is,  to  the  canonists, 
who  did  not  use  to  give  their  opinion  without  a  fee. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  the  emperor  did  reward  and  fee 
divines  at  another  rate ;  for  Croke  informed  the  king,  that 
one  friar  Felix  having  written  for  the  validity  of  the  marriage 
against  the  king,  there  was  a  benefice  of  five  hundred  ducats  a 
year  given  him  in  reward.  And  the  emperor's  ambassador 
offered  a  thousand  ducats  to  the  provincial  of  the  Gray-friars 
in  Venice,  if  he  would  inhibit  all  within  his  province  to  write 
or  subscribe  for  the  king^s  cause.  But  the  provincial  refused 
it,  and  said,  he  neither  could  nor  yet  would  do  it.  And  another 
that  wrote  for  the  queen  had  a  benefice  of  six  hundred  crowns. 
So  that  it  was  openly  said  at  Ferrara,  that  they  who  wrote 
for  the  king  had  but  a  few  crowns  a-piece,  but  they  who  wrote 
on  the  other  side  had  good  benefices.  They  also  tried  what 
could  be  done  at  Padua,  both  by  threatenings,  entreaties,  and 
rewards,  to  induce  them  to  reverse  the  determination  they  had 
made  in  the  matter  ;  but  with  no  success.  And  though  Francis 
Georgius,  the  Venetian  friar,  did  greatly  promote  the  king's 
cause,  both  by  his  writings  and  authority  ;  yet  Croke  wrote, 
that  he  could  not  prevail  to  make  either  him  or  his  nephew 
accept  one  farthing  of  him.  By  such  fair  means  it  was  that 
Croke  procured  so  many  subscriptions. 

First,  of  particular  divines,  many  Franciscans,  Dominicans, 
and  Servitcs,  set  their  hands  to  the  conclusions  ;  though  even 
in  that  there  was  opposition  made  by  the  pope's  agents.    Cam- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  157 

peggio  was  now  engaged  in  the  emperor's  faction,  and  did 
every  where  misrepresent  the  king's  cause.  Being  at  Venice,  March  29. 
he  so  wrought  on  the  minister  of  the  Franciscans,  that,  though 
he  had  declared  for  the  king,  and  engaged  to  bring  the  hands 
91  of  twenty-four  doctors  and  learned  men  of  his  order  for  it,  and 
had  received  a  small  present  of  ten  crowns ;  yet,  after  he  had 
kept  the  money  three  weeks,  he  sent  it  back,  and  said,  he 
would  not  meddle  more  in  it ;  but  they  procured  most  of  these 
hands  without  his  help.  At  Milan,  a  suffragan  bishop  and  May  26. 
sixteen  divines  subscribed.  Nine  doctors  subscribed  atVicenza; 
but  the  pope's  nuncio  took  the  writing  out  of  his  hands  that 
had  it,  and  suppressed  it.  At  Padua  all  the  Franciscans,  both  June  27. 
Observants  and  Conventuals,  subscribed  ;  and  so  did  the 
Dominicans,  and  all  the  canonists :  and  though  the  pope's  and 
emperor's  emissaries  did  threaten  all  that  subscribed,  yet  there 
were  got  eighty  hands  at  Padua.  Next  the  universities  deter- 
mined. 

At   Bologna,   though  it  was    the   pope's  town,  many  sub- They  deter- 
scribed.     The  governor  of  the  town  did  at  first  oppose  the  t]]e  kjng  at 
granting  of  any  determination ;    but  the  pope's  breve  being  Bologna, 
brought  thither,  he  not  without  great  difficulty  gave  way  to 
it ;    so  on  the  tenth  of  June,  the  matter  being   publicly  de-  June  10. 
bated,  and  all  Cajetan's  arguments  being  examined,  who  was  of 
opinion,  That  the  laivs  of  marriage  in  Leviticus  did  not  bind 
the  Christian  church ;  they  determined,  That  these  laws  are 
still  in  force,  and  that  they  bind  all,  both  Christians  and 
infidels,  being  2mrts  of  the  law  of  nature,  as  well  as  of  the 
law  of  God;   and  that  therefore  they  judged  marriage   in 
these  degrees  unlawful,  and  that  the  pope  had  no  authority 
to  dispense  with  them. 

The  university  of  Padua,  after  some  days'  public  dispute,  on  At  Padua, 
the  first  of  July  determined  to  the  same  purpose  ;  about  which  q^^ 
Croke's  letter  will  be  found  among  the   instruments  at  the  Numb.  33. 
end  of  this  book. 

At  Ferrara,  the  divines  did  also  confirm  the  same  conclusion,  And  Fer- 
and  set  their  seal  to  it ;  but  it  was  taken  away  violently  by  ^J3"'   ep  ' 
some  of  the  other  faction ;  yet  the  duke  made  it  be  restored. 
The  profession  of  the  canon  law  was  then  in  great  credit  there, 
and  in  a  congregation  of  seventy-two  of  that  profession,  it  was 
determined  for  the  king  ;    but  they  asked  one  hundred  and 


158 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


And  in 
Orleans, 
April  7. 

At  Paris 
of  the  ca- 
nonists, 
May  25. 

Of  the 
Sorbonne, 
July  2. 


At  Angers, 
May  7. 

AtBourges, 
June  10. 


fifty  crowns  for  setting  the  seal  to  it,  and  Croke  would  not 
give  more  than  an  hundred :  the  next  day  he  came  and  offered 
the  money ;  but  then  it  was  told  him,  they  would  not  meddle 
in  it,  and  he  could  not  afterwards  obtain  it. 

In  all,  Croke  sent  over  by  Stokesley  an  hundred  several 
books,  papers,  and  subscriptions,  and  there  were  many  hands 
subscribed  to  many  of  those  papers.  But  it  seems  Croke 
died-7  before  he  could  receive  a  reward  of  this  great  service 
he  did  the  king  ;  for  I  do  not  find  him  mentioned  after  this. 
I  hope  the  reader  will  forgive  my  insisting  so  much  on  this 
negotiation  ;  for  it  seemed  necessary  to  give  full  and  convinc- 
ing evidences  of  the  sincerity  of  the  king's  proceedings  in  it, 
since  it  is  so  confidently  given  out  that  these  were  but  merce- 
nary subscriptions. 

What  difficulties  or  opposition  those  who  were  employed  in 
France  found,  does  not  yet  appear  to  me ;  but  the  seals  of  the 
chief  universities  there  were  procured.  The  university  of 
Orleans  determined  it  on  the  seventh  of  April.  The  faculty 
of  the  canon  law  at  Paris  did  also  conclude,  that  the  pope  had 
no  power  to  dispense  in  that  case,  on  the  twenty -fifth  of  May. 
But  the  great  and  celebrated  faculty  of  the  Sorbonne  (whose 
conclusions  had  been  looked  on  for  some  ages  as  little  inferior 
to  the  decrees  of  councils)  made  their  decision  with  all  possible 
solemnity  and  decency.  They  first  met  at  the  church  of  St. 
Mathurin,  where  there  was  a  mass  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
every  one  took  an  oath  to  study  the  question,  and  resolve  it 
according  to  his  conscience  ;  and  from  the  eighth  of  June  to 
the  second  of  July,  they  continued  searching  the  matter  with  92 
all  possible  diligence,  both  out  of  the  scriptures,  the  fathers, 
and  the  councils  ;  and  had  many  disputes  about  it.  After 
which,  the  greater  part  of  the  faculty  did  determine,  That  the 
king  of  England's  marriage  was  unlawful,  and  that  the  p>ope 
had  no  power  to  dispense  in  it ;  and  they  set  their  common 
seal  to  it  at  St.  Mathurin's,  the  second  of  July,  1530.  To  the 
same  purpose  did  both  the  faculties  of  law,  civil  and  canon,  at 
Angers,  determine  the  seventh  of  May.  On  the  tenth  of  June, 
the  faculty  of  divinity  at  Bourges  made  the  same  determina- 

27  He  lived  many  years  after,  to  to  his  patron  who  had  provided  for 
the  reign  of  queen  Mary,  and  had  him.  He  is  well  known  at  Cam- 
the  reward  due  to  his  ingratitude     bridge  as  well  as  at  Oxford.  [B.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  159 

tion.     And  on  the  first  of  October  the  whole   university  of  And  Tou- 
Toulouse  did  all  with  one  consent  give  their  judgment,  agree-  °us 
ing  with  the  former  conclusions.     More  of  the   decisions  of  Collect. 

...  ,  .  ,       .       ,  Numb.  34. 

universities  were  not  printed,  though  many  more  were  obtained 
to  the  same  effect.  In  Germany,  Spain,  and  Flanders,  the 
emperor's  authority  was  so  great,  that  much  could  not  be  ex- 
pected, except  from  the  Lutherans,  with  whom  Cranmer  con- 
versed ;  and  chiefly  with  Osiander,  whose  niece  he  then  mar- 
ried. Osiander  upon  that  wrote  a  book  about  incestuous  mar-  Jan.  24. 
riages,  which  was  published ;  but  was  called  in  by  a  prohibition  letter,  Cott. 

printed  at  Auo-sburo-  because  it  determined  in  the  king's  cause,  ilbr-  9*^°» 
,        ,  .     .  ?  C.  x.  [fol. 

and  on  his  side.  162.] 

But  now  I  find  the  king  did  likewise  deal  among  those  in  Ilpelegrino 

Switzerland  that  had  set  up  the  reformation.     The  duke  of  rcotton 

Suffolk  did  most  set  him  on  to  this ;    (so  one  who  was  em-  MSS.Vesp. 

ployed  in  that  time  writes ;)  for  he  often  asked  him,  How  he  f0i,  54-j' 

could  so  humble  himself,  as  to  submit  his  cause  to  such  a 

vile,  vicious,  stranger-priest,  as  Campeggio  was  ?     To  which 

the  king  answered,  He  could  give  no  other  reason,  but  that  it 

seemed  to  him,  spiritual  men  should  judge  spiritual  tilings : 

yet,  he  said,  lie  would  search  the  matter  further ;  but  he  had 

no  great  mind  to  seem  more  curious  than  other  princes.     But 

the  duke  desired  him  to  discuss  the  matter  secretly  amongst 

learned  men,  to  which  he  consented  ;  and  wrote  to  some  foreign 

writers  that  were  then  in  great  estimation.    Erasmus  was  much 

in  his  favour,  but  he  would  not  appear  in  it :  he  had  no  mind 

to  provoke  the  emperor,  and  live  uneasily  in  his  own  country. 

But  Simon  Grineus  was  sent  for,  whom  the  king  esteemed  Grineus 

much  for  his  learning.     The  king  informed  him  about  his  pro-  amongst 

cess,  and  sent  him  back  to  Basle,  to  try  what  his  friends  in  the. refo™- 

r~i  in-  tit  i         i-  •         -it  1  •  ed  in  Swit- 

Germany  and  Switzerland  thought  01  it.     He  Avrote  about  it  to  zerland. 
Bucer,  CEcolampadius,  Zuinglius,  and  Paulus  Phrygion.  Whose  let- 

CEcolampadius,  as  it  appears  by  three  letters,  one  dated  the  a  MS.  in 
tenth  of  August  1531,  another  the  last  of  the  same  nionth,  lib^"ltls 
another  to  Bucer  the  tenth  of  September,  was  positively  of  The  opin- 
opinion,  That  the  law  in  Leviticus  did  bind  all  mankind;1™*^ 
and  says,  That  law  of  a  brother's  marrying  his  sister-in-law  padius ; 
ivas  a  dispensation  given  by   God  to  his  own  law,  which 
belonged  only  to  the  Jews ;  and  therefore  he  thought  that  the 
Icing  might  without  any  scruple  put  away  the  cpieen.     But 


160    ^  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

Bucer ;  Bucer  was  of  another  mind,  and  thought  the  law  in  Leviticus 
did  not  bind,  and  could  not  be  moral,  because  God  had  dis- 
pensed with  it  in  one  case,  of  raising  up  seed  to  his  brother  : 
therefore  he  thought  these  laws  belonged  only  to  that  dispen- 
sation, and  did  no  more  bind  Christians  than  the  other  cere- 
monial or  judiciary  precepts ;  and  that  to  marry  in  some  of 
these  degrees  was  no  more  a  sin,  than  it  was  a  sin  in  the  dis- 
ciples to  pluck  ears  of  corn  on  the  sabbath-day.  There  are 
none  of  Bucer's  letters  remaining  on  this  head ;  but  by  the 
answers  that  Grineus  wrote  to  him,  one  on  the  twenty-ninth  of 
August,  another  on  the  tenth  of  September,  I  gather  his  opin-  93 
ion,  and  the  reasons  for  it.  But  they  all  agreed,  that  the 
pope's  dispensation  was  of  no  force  to  alter  the  nature  of  a 

Phrygian  ;  thing.  Paulus  Phrygion  was  of  opinion,  that  the  laws  in  Le- 
viticus did  bind  all  nations,  because  it  is  said  in  the  text,  That 
the  Canaanites  were  punished  for  doing  contrary  to  them, 
which  did  not  consist  with  the  justice  of  God.  if  those  pro- 
hibitions had  not  been  parts  of  the  laiv  of  nature.  Dated 
Basle,  the  tenth  of  September.  In  Grineus'  letter  to  Bucer, 
he  tells  him,  that  the  king  had  said  to  him,  That  now  for  seven 
years  he  had  perpetual  trouble  upon  him  about  this  marriage. 

Zuinglius ;  Zuinglius'  letter  is  very  full.  First,  he  largely  proves,  that 
neither  the  pope,  nor  any  other  power,  could  dispense  with 
the  law  of  God :  then,  that  the  apostles  had  made  no  new  laws 
about  marriage,  but  had  left  it  as  they  found  it :  that  the  mar- 
rying within  near  degrees  was  hated  by  the  Greeks,  and  other 
heathen  nations.  But  whereas  Grineus  seemed  to  be  of  opin- 
ion, that  though  the  marriage  was  ill  made,  yet  it  ought  not 
to  be  dissolved ;  and  inclined  rather  to  advise,  that  the  king 
should  take  another  wife,  keeping  the  queen  still :  Zuinglius 
confutes  that,  and  says,  if  the  marriage  be  against  the  law  of 
God,  it  ought  to  be  dissolved  ;  but  concludes  the  queen  should 
be  put  away  honourably,  and  still  used  as  a  queen  ;  and  the 
marriage  should  only  be  dissolved  for  the  future,  without  illi- 
gitimating  the  issue  begotten  in  it,  since  it  had  gone  on  in  a 
public  way,  upon  a  received  error :  but  advises,  that  the  king 
should  proceed  in  a  judiciary  way,  and  not  establish  so  ill  a 
precedent,  as  to  put  away  his  queen,  and  take  another,  with- 
out due  form  of  law.  Dated  Basle,  the  seventeenth  of  August. 
There  is  a  second  letter  of  his  to  the  same  purpose  from  Zurich, 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  161 

the  first  of  September.  There  is  also  with  these  letters  a  long 
paper  of  Osiander's,  in  the  form  of  a  direction  how  the  process 
should  be  managed. 

There  is  also  an  epistle  of  Calvin's'21,  published  among  the  And  Cal- 
rest  of  his.     Neither  the  date,  nor  the  person  to  whom  it  was  ™'    pis 
directed,  are  named.     Yet  I  fancy  it  was  written  to  Grineus  [°PP- tom- 
upon  this  occasion  :   Calvin  was  clear  in  his  judgment  that  the  ed.  Amst! 
marriage  was  null,  and  that  the  king  ought  to  put  away  the  l667] 
queen,    upon   the   law   of   Leviticus.      And   whereas   it   was 
objected,  that  the  law  is  only  meant  of  marrying  the  brother's 
wife  while  he  is  yet  alive;  he  shews  that  could  not  be  ad- 
mitted ;  for  all  the  prohibited  degrees  being  forbidden  in  the 
same  style,  they  were   all  to  be  understood  in   one   sense : 
therefore,  since  it  is  confessed,  that  it  is  unlawful  to  marry 
in  the  other  degrees,  after  the  death  of  the  father,  son,  uncle, 
or  nephew,   so  it  must  be  also  a  sin  to  marry  the  brother's 
wife  after  his  death.     And  for  the  law  in  Deuteronomy,  of 
marrying  the  brother's  zuife  to  raise  up  seed  to  him ;    he 
thought,  that  by  brother  there  is  to  be  understood  a  near 
kinsman,  according  to  the  usual  phrase  of  the  Hebrew  tongue  : 
and  by  that  he  reconciles  the  two  laws,  which  otherwise  seem 
to  differ,  illustrating  his  exposition  by  the  history  of  Ruth  and 
Boaz.     It  is  given   out  that  Melancthon  advised  the  king's 
taking  another  wife,  justifying  polygamy  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment; but  I  cannot  believe  it.     It  is  true,  the  lawfulness  of 
polygamy  was  much  controverted  at  this  time.     And,  as  in  all 
controversies  newly  started,  many  crude  things  are.  said ;  so 
some  of  the  Helvetian  and  German  divines  seem  not  so  fierce 
against  it ;  though  none  of  them  went  so  far  as  the  pope  did,  Lord  Her- 
who  did  plainly  offer  to  grant  the  king  license  to  have  two  }ert'    1 
wives  :  and  it  was  a  motion  the  imperialists  consented  to,  and  from 
94  promoted,  though  upon  what  reason,  the  ambassador  Cassali,  gepTfs  6 

1530. 
21  Calvin's  epistle  seems  not  to  epistle  seems  to  relate  to  a  prince 
belong  to  this  case,  for  besides  that  who  was  desirous  of  such  a  marriage, 
he  was  then  but  21,  and  though  he  and  not  of  dissolving  it;  though  it 
was  a  doctor  of  the  law  and  had  is  indeed  strange  that  in  treating  of 
often  preached  before  he  was  24,  for  that  cmestion,  he  should  make  no 
then  he  set  out  Seneca  de  Clementid  mention  of  so  famous  a  case  as  that 
with  notes  on  it :  yet  this  was  too  of  king  Henry,  which  had  made  so 
soon  to  think  he  could  have  been  much  noise  in  the  world.  [F.1 
consulted  in  so  great  a  case.     That 

Bl'KNET.  PART  I.  M 


162 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part 


The  opin- 
ion of  the 
Lutheran 
divines. 


Instruc- 
tions sent 
by  Dr. 
Barnes  to 
Cromwell. 
Cott.  Libr 
Vitel.  B. 
xiii. 

[fol.  113, 
116.] 


They  con- 
demn the 
king's  first 
marriage, 
but  are 
against  a 
second. 
Collect. 
Numb.  35. 


who  wrote  the  account  of  it  to  the  king,  could  not  learn.  The 
pope  forbade  him  to  write  about  it  to  the  king,  perhaps  as 
whisperers  enjoin  silence,  as  the  most  effectual  way  to  make  a 
thing  public.  But  for  Melancthon's  being  of  that  mind,  great 
evidences  appear  to  the  contrary  ;  for  there  is  a  letter  of 
Osiander's  to  him,  giving  him  many  reasons  to  persuade  him  to 
approve  of  the  king's  putting  away  the  queen,  and  marrying 
another  :  the  letter  also  shews  he  was  then  of  opinion,  that  the 
law  in  Leviticus  was  dispensable. 

And  after  the  thing  was  done,  when  the  king  desired  the 
Lutheran  divines  to  approve  his  second  marriage,  they  begged 
his  excuse  in  a  writing,  which  they  sent  over  to  him  ;  so  that 
Melancthon  not  allowing  the  thing  when  it  was  done,  cannot 
be  imagined  to  have  advised  polygamy  beforehand.  And  to 
open  at  once  all  that  may  clear  the  sense  of  the  protestants  in 
the  question  ;  when,  some  years  .after  this,  Fox,  being  made 
bishop  of  Hereford,  and  much  inclined  to  their  doctrine,  was 
sent  over  to  get  the  divines  of  Germany  to  approve  of  the 
divorce,  and  the  subsequent  marriage  of  Anne  Boleyn  ;  he 
found  that  Melancthon  and  others  had  no  mind  to  enter  much 
into  the  dispute  about  it,  both  for  fear  of  the  emperor,  and 
because  they  judged  the  king  was  led  in  it  by  dishonest 
affections  :  they  also  thought  the  laws  in  Leviticus  were  not 
moral,  and  did  not  oblige  Christians  ;  and  since  there  were  no 
rules  made  about  the  degrees  of  marriage  in  the  gospel,  they 
thought  princes  and  states  might  make  what  laws  they  pleased 
about  it :  yet  after  much  disputing  they  were  induced  to 
change  their  minds,  but  could  not  be  brought  to  think  that  a 
marriage  once  made  might  be  annulled,  and  therefore  de- 
murred upon  that;  as  will  appear  by  the  conclusion  they 
passed  upon  it,  to  be  found  at  the  end  of  this  volume.  All 
this  I  have  set  together  here,  to  give  a  right  representation  of 
the  judgments  of  the  several  parties  of  Christendom  about  this 
matter. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  protestants  did  express  great 
sincerity  in  this  matter  ;  such  as  became  men  of  conscience, 
who  were  acted  by  true  principles,  and  not  by  maxims  of 
policy.  For  if  these  had  governed  them,  they  had  struck  in 
more  compliantly  with  so  great  a  prince,  who  was  then 
alienated    from    the    pope,    and    in    very    ill    terms    with    the 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  163 

emperor ;  so  that  to  have  gained  him  by  a  full  compliance  to 
have  protected  them,  was  the  wisest  thing  they  could  do  :  and 
their  being  so  cold  in  the  matter  of  his  marriage,  in  which  he 
had  engaged  so  deeply,  was  a  thing  which  would  very  much 
provoke  him  against  them.  But  such  measures  as  these, 
though  they  very  well  became  the  apostolic  see,  yet  they  were 
unworthy  of  men  who  designed  to  restore  an  apostolic  religion. 

The  earl  of  Wiltshire,  with  the  other  ambassadors,  when  Fox,  [vol. 
they  had  their  audience  of  the  pope  at  Bologna,  refused  to  pay  m"  p"  533'-' 
him  the  submission  of  kissing  his  foot,  though  he  graciously 
stretched  it  out  to  them  ;  but  went  to  their  business,  and  ex- 
postulated in  the  king's  name,  and  in  high  words  ;    and  in  con- 
clusion told  the   pope,  that  the  prerogative  of  the  crown  of 
England  was  such,  that  their  master  would  not  suffer  any  The  king 
citation  to  be  made  of  him  to  any  foreign  court ;    and  that refuses  to 

appear  at 

therefore  the  king  would  not  have  his  cause  tried  at  Rome.  Rome. 
95  The  pope  answered,   that  though  the    queen's   solicitor   had 
pressed  him  to  proceed  in  the  citation,  both  that  her  marriage, 
being  further  examined,  might  receive  a  new  confirmation,  for 
silencing  the  disputes  about  it,  and  because  the  king  had  with- 
drawn himself  from  her ;    yet  if  the  king  did  not  go  further, 
and  did  not  innovate  in  religion,  the  pope  was  willing  to  let 
the  matter  rest.     They  went  next  to  the  emperor,  to  justify 
the  king's  proceedings  in  the  suit  of  the  divorce.     But  he  told 
them,  he  was  bound  in  honour  and  justice  to  support  his  aunt, 
and  that  he   would  not   abandon   her.     Cranmer  offered   to  Cranmer 
maintain  what  he  had  written  in  his  book  ;    but  whether  they  ^^tain 
went  so  far  as  to  make  their  divines  enter  into  any  discourse  tne  king's 
with  him  about  it,  I  do  not  know.      This  appears,  that  the  [ibid/] 
pope,  to  put  a  compliment  on  the  king,  declared  Cranmer  his 
penitentiary  in  England.     He,  having  stayed  some  months  at 
Rome  after  the  ambassadors  were  gone,  went  into  Germany  ; 
where  he  became  acquainted  with  Cornelius  Agrippa,  a  man 
very  famous  for  great  and  curious  learning,  and  so  satisfied 
him  in  the  king's  cause,  that  he  gave  it  out,  that  the  thing  was 
clear  and  indisputable,  for  which  he  was  afterwards  hardly  used 
by  the  emperor,  and  died  in  prison. 

But  when  the  king  received  the  determinations  and  conclu-  The  nobi- 
sions  of  the  universities,  and  other  learned  men  bevond  sea   he  llt^' clergy' 

^'  •c"-,1j  Jit  and  coin- 

resolved  to  do  two  things.     First,  to  make  a  new  attempt  noon  mons  of 

11         England 


164  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

write  to      the  pope,  and  then  to  publish  those  conclusions  to  the  world, 

ie  P°Pe-     wJtli  the  arguments  upon  which  they  were  grounded.     But,  to 

make  his  address  to  the  pope  carry  more  terror  with  it,  he  got 

a  letter  to  be  signed  by  a  great  many  members  of  parliament, 

[Herbert,    to  the  pope.     The  lord  Herbert  saith,  it  was  done  by  his  par- 

3  liament ;  but  in  that  he  had  not  applied  his  ordinary  diligence ; 

the  letter  bears  date  the   thirteenth   of  July.     Now  by  the 

records  of  parliament  it  appears,  there  could  be  no  session  at 

that  time,  for  there  was  a  prorogation  from  the  twenty -first  of 

June  till  the  first  of  October  that  year :  but  the  letter  was 

In  the  Life  sent  about  to  the  chief  members  for  their  hands ;  and  Cavendish 

rp    i8Sey   tells,  how  it  was  brought  to  the  cardinal,  and  with  what  cheer- 

sqq]  fulness  he  set  his  hand  to  it.    It  was  subscribed  by  the  cardinal 

and  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  four  bishops,  two  dukes, 

two    marquises,    thirteen    earls,    two    viscounts,   twenty-three 

barons,  twenty-two  abbots,  and  eleven  commoners,  most   of 

these  being  the  king's  servants. 

This  letter       The  contents  of  the  letter  were,  "  that  their  near  relation  to 

swerve™  "  tne  king  made  tliem  address  thus  to  the  pope.     The  king's 

printed  by  "  cause  was  now,  in  the  opinion  of  the   learned   men,   and 

Herbert,     "universities  both  in  England,  France,  and  Italy,  found  just, 

[p-  331-]      "  which  ought  to  prevail  so  far  with  the  pope,  that  though 

"  none  moved  in  it,  and  notwithstanding  any  contradiction,  he 

"  ought  to  confirm  their  judgment ;   especially  it  touching  a 

"  kino;  and  kingdom,  to  whom  he  was  so  much  obliged.     But 

"  since  neither  the  justice  of  the  cause,  nor  the  king's  most 

"  earnest  desires,  had  prevailed  with  him,  they  were  all  forced 

"  to  complain  of  that  strange  usage  of  the  king ;   who  both  by 

"  his  authority,  and  with  his  pen,  had  supported  the  apostolic 

"  see,  and  the  catholic  faith,  and  yet  was  now  denied  justice. 

Ci  From  which  they  apprehended  great  mischief  and  civil  wars, 

"  which  could  only  be  prevented  by  the  king's  marrying  an- 

"  other  wife,  of  whom  he  might  have  issue.     This  could  not  be 

"  done  till  his  present  marriage  were  annulled.     And  if  the  90 

"  pope  would  still  refuse  to  do  this,  they  must  conclude  that 

"  they  were  abandoned  by  him,  and  so  seek  for  other  remedies. 

"  This  they  most  earnestly  prayed  him  to  prevent,  since  they 

"  did  not  desire  to  go  to  extremities  till  there  was  no  more  to 

"  be  hoped  for  at  his  hands." 

The  pope's       To  this  the  pope  made  answer  the  27th  of  September.   "  He 


answer. 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  165 

"  took  notice  of  the  vehemency  of  their  letter,  which  he  for-  [Herbert 

"  gave  them,  imputing  it  to  their  great  affection  to  their  king  :  p'  335^ 

"  they  had  charged  him  with  ingratitude  and  injustice ;  two 

*'  grievous  imputations.      He  acknowledged  all  they  wrote  of 

"  the  obligations  he  owed  to  their  king,  whieh  were  far  greater 

"  than  they  called  them,  both  on  the  apostolic  see,  and  himself 

"  in  particular.     But  in  the  king's  cause  he  had  been  so  far 

"  from  denying  justice,  that  he  was  oft  charged  as  having  been 

"  too  partial  to  him.  He  had  granted  a  commission  to  two  legates 

"  to  hear  it,  rather  out  of  favour,  than  in  rigour  of  law  ;  upon 

"  which  the  queen  had  appealed  :  he  had  delayed  the  admitting 

"  of  it  as  long  as  was  possible ;  but  when  he  saw  it  could  not 

"  be  any  longer  denied  to  be  heard,  it  was  brought  before  the 

"  consistory,  where  all  the  cardinals,  with  one  consent,  found 

"  that  the  appeal,   and  an  avocation  of  the  cause,   must   be 

"  granted.     That  since  that  time  the  king  had  never  desired 

"  to  put  it  to  a  trial,  but,  on  the  contrary,  by  his  ambassadors 

"  at  Bologna,  moved  for  a  delay  :  and  in  that  posture  it  was 

"  still ;  nor  could  he  give  sentence  in  a  thing  of  such  conse- 

"  quence,  when  it  was  not  so  much  as  sought  for.     For  the 

"  conclusions  of  universities  and  learned   men,  ha  had  seen 

"  none  of  them  from  any  of  the  king's  ambassadors.     It  was 

"  true,  some  of  them  had  been  brought  to  him  another  way  ; 

"  but  in  them  there  were  no  reasons  given,  but  only  bare  con- 

"  elusions,  and  he  had  also  seen  very  important  tilings  for  the 

"  other  side  ;  and  therefore  he  must  not  precipitate  a  sentence, 

4'  in  a  cause  of  such  high  importance,  till  all  things  were  fully 

"  heard  and  considered.     He  wished  their  king  might  have 

"  male-issue,  but  he  was  not  in  God's  stead  to  give  it.     And 

"  for  their  threatenings  of  seeking  other  remedies,  they  were 

"  neither    agreeable  to   their   wisdom,   nor  to  their  religion. 

11  Therefore  he  admonished  them  to  abstain  from  such  counsels ; 

"  but  minded  them,  that  it  is  not  the  physician's  fault  if  the 

"  patient  will  do  himself  hurt.    He  knew  the  king  would  never 

"  like  such  courses  ;  and  though  he  had  a  just  value  for  their 

"  intercession,  yet  he  considered  the  king  much  more,  to  whom, 

"  as  he  had  never  denied  any  thing,  that  he  could  grant  with 

"  his  honour,  so  he  was  very  desirous  to  examine  this  matter, 

'"  and  to  put  it  to  a  speedy  issue,  and  would  do  every  thing 

"  that  he  could  without  offending  God.'' 


lfifi 


THE   HISTORY. OF 


[part  i. 


A  procla- 
mation 
against 
1  mils  from 
Rome. 
Lord  Her- 
bert. 
[P-  355-] 


Books  writ- 
ten for  the 
king's 
cause. 


Otho. 
C.  x. 

[fol.2.] 

Ibidem, 
[fol.  184.] 
Vesp.  B.  v 
[fol.  1.] 
Collect. 
Num.  36. 


But  the  king,  either  seeing  the  pope  resolved  to  grant 
nothing,  or  apprehending  that  some  bull  might  be  brought 
into  England  in  behalf  of  the  queen,  or  the  disgraced  cardinal, 
did  on  the  nineteenth  of  September  put  forth  a  proclamation 
against  any  "  who  purchased  any  thing  from  Rome,  or  else- 
"  where,  contrary  to  his  royal  prerogative  and  authority,  or 
"  should  publish  or  divulge  any  such  thing,  requiring  them  not 
"  to  do  it,  under  the  pains  of  incurring  his  indignation,  im- 
"  prisonment,  and  other  punishments  on  their  persons."  This 
was  founded  on  the  statute  of  provisors  and  prmmunires.  But 
that  being  done,  he  resolved  next  to  publish  to  the  world,  and  97 
to  his  subjects,  the  justice  of  his  cause  :  therefore  some  learned 
men  were  appointed  to  compare  all  that  had  been  written  on  it, 
and  out  of  all  the  transcripts  of  the  manuscripts,  of  fathers  and 
councils,  to  gather  together  whatsoever  did  strengthen  it. 
Several  of  these  manuscripts  I  have  seen  ;  one  is  in  Mr.  Smith's 
library,  where  are  the  quotations  of  the  fathers,  councils, 
schoolmen,  and  canonists,  written  out  at  length.  There  are 
three  other  such  MSS.  in  the  Cotton  library,  of  which  one 
contains  a  large  vindication  of  these  authorities,  from  some  ex- 
ceptions made  to  them ;  another  is  an  answer  to  the  bishop  of 
Rochester's  book  for  the  queen's  cause.  A  third  digests  the 
matter  into  twelve  articles,  which  the  reader  will  find  in  my 
Appendix  ;  and  these  are  there  enlarged  on  and  proved.  But 
all  these,  and  many  more,  were  summed  up  in  a  short  book, 
and  printed  first  in  Latin'-'2,  then  in  English'2',  with  the  determin- 
ations of  the  universities  before  it.     These  are  of  such  weight 


22  GRAVISSIMiE  atque  ex- 
actissimse,  illustrissimaru  totius  Ita- 
lia?, et  Gallia?  Academiaru  censura?, 
efficacissimis  etiam  quorundam  do- 
ctissimorum  uiroru  argumentatio- 
nibus  explicate,  de  ueritate  illius 
propositionis,  Videlicet  quod  ducere 
relictam  fratris  mortui  sine  liberis 
ita  sit  de  hire  diuino  et  naturali  pro- 
hibitum ;  ut  nullus  Pontifex  6uper 
huiusmodi  matrimoniis  contractis, 
siue  contrahendis  dispensare  possit. 

Impress.  Londini  in  officina 
Thomas  Brrlheleti  Regij  impress. 
Mense  Aprili,  An.  Drii.  m.d.xxx. 


4to.  Not  paged  or  foliated — but 
extends  to  80  leaves. 

23  The  determinations  of  the 
moste  famous  and  mooste  excellent 
vniuersities  of  Italy  and  Fraunce, 
that  it  is  so  vnlefull  for  a  man  to 
marie  his  brothers  wyfe,  that  the 
pope  hath  no  power  to  dispence 
therwith  &c. 

IT  Imprinted  at  London  in  the 
house  of  Thomas  Berthelet  printer 
to  the  kinges  most  noble  grace,  the. 
7.  daye  of  Nouembre  CUM  PRI- 
VILEGIO.  8°.  154  leaves  includ- 
ing Title. 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  167 

and  importance,  and  give  so  great  a  light  to  the  whole  matter, 
that  I  hope  the  reader  will  not  be  ill  pleased  to  have  a  short 
abstract  of  them  laid  before  him. 

An  abstract  of  those  things  ivhich  were  written  for  the 

divorce. 
"  The  law  of  marriage  was  originally  given  by  God  to  Adam  The 
"  in  the  state  of  innocence,  with  this  declaration,  that  man  and  ^-m  t\ie° 
"  wife  tvere  one  flesh ;  but  being  afterwards  corrupted  by  the  01d  Testa" 
"  incestuous  commixtures  of  those  which  were  of  kin  in  the  Lev.x'viii. 
"  nearest  degrees,  the  primitive    law   was  again  revived   by  and  xx- 
"  Moses.     And  he  gives  many  rules  and  prohibitions  about  the 
"  degrees  of  kindred  and  affinity,  which  are  not  to  be  looked 
"  on  as  new  laws  and  judiciary  precepts,  but  as  a  restoring  of 
"  the  law  of  nature,  originally  given  by  God,  but  then  much 
"  corrupted.     For  as   the   preface   which   is  so  oft   repeated 
"  before  these  laws,  I  am  the  Lord,  insinuates  that  they  were  Lev.xviii. 
"  conform  to  the  divine  nature  ;  so  the  consequences  of  them  \'*' 5'   ' 
"  shew  they  were  moral  and   natural.     For  the  breaches  of 
"  them  are  called  ivickedness  and  abomination,  and  are  said  "Ver.  17, 24, 
"  to  defile  the  land ;    and  the  violation  of  them  is  charged  2  ' 
"  on  the  Canaanites,  by  which  the  land  was  polluted,  and  for  Ver.24, 25. 
"  ivhich  it  did  vomit   out  the   inhabitants.     From    whence 
<:  it  must  be  concluded,  that  these  were  not  positive  precepts, 
"  which  did  only  bind  the  Jews,  but  were  parts  of  the  law 
"  of  mankind  and  nature  ;  otherwise  those  nations  could  con- 
"  tract   no  guilt   by  their   violating  them.     Among   the  for- 
"  bidden  degrees,  one  is,  Thou  shalt  not  discover  the  naked-  Lov.xviii. 
"  ness  of  thy  brother's  wife ;  it  is  thy  brother's  nakedness  :  ' 
"  And  it  is  again  repeated,  //'  a  man  shall  take  his  brother's  Lev.xx.21. 
"  wife,  it  is  an  unclean  thing ;  lie  hath  uncovered  his  brother's 
"  nakedness :    they  shall  be  childless.     These  are  clear  and 
"  express  laws  of   God,  which   therefore   must   needs  oblige 
"  all  persons  of  what  rank  soever,  without  exception. 

"  In  the  New  Testament,  St.  John  Baptist  said  to  Herod,  It  And  in  the 
"is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  take  thy  brother's  wife;  which  Matt.xiv. 
"  shews  that  these  laws  of  Moses  were  still  obligatory.    St.  Paul  +■ 
"  also,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  condemns  the  incest u- 
"  ous  person  for  having  his  father's  wife,  which  is  one  of  the 


lt)« 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


l  Cor.  v.  i 


Lib.  iv. 
[cap.  34.] 
cont.  Mar- 
cionera. 

The  au- 
thorities 
of  popes. 

[Bede 
Hist.  Eccl. 
lib.  i. 
c.  27.] 


"  degrees  forbidden  by  the  law  of  Moses,  and  calls  it  ajornica-  98 
"  tion  not  so  much  as  named  among  the  Gentiles.  From 
"  whence  it  is  inferred,  that  these  forbidden  degrees  are 
"  excluded  by  the  law  of  nature,  since  the  Gentiles  did  not 
"  admit  them  :  St.  Paul  also  calling  it  by  the  common  name  of 
"fornication,  within  which,  according  to  that  place,  all  undue 
"  commixtures  of  men  and  women  are  included  ;  therefore 
"  those  places  in  the  New  Testament,  that  condemn  fornication, 
"  do  also  condemn  marriages  in  forbidden  degrees.  Our 
"  Saviour  did  also  assert  the  foundation  of  affinity,  by  saying, 
"  that  man  and  wife  are  one  flesh. 

"  But  in  all  controverted  things,  the  sense  of  the  scriptures 
"  must  be  taken  from  the  tradition  of  the  church,  which  no 
"  good  catholic  can  deny  :  and  that  is  to  be  found  in  the 
"  decrees  of  popes  and  councils,  and  in  the  writings  of  the 
"  fathers  and  doctors  of  the  church  :  against  which  if  any 
"  argue  from  their  private  understanding  of  the  scriptures,  it  is 
"  the  way  of  heresy,  and  savours  of  Lutheranism.  The  first  of 
"  the  fathers,  who  had  occasion  to  write  of  this  matter,  was 
"  Tertullian,  who  lived  within  an  age  after  the  apostles.  He 
"  in  express  words  says,  that  the  law  of  not  marrying  the 
"  brother's  wife  did  still  oblige  Christians. 

"  The  first  pope,  whose  decision  was  sought  in  this  matter, 
"  was  Gregory  the  Great,  to  whom  Austin,  the  apostle  of 
"  England,  wrote  for  his  resolution  of  some  things,  in  which  he 
"  desired  direction  ;  and  one  of  these  is,  Whether  a  man  may 
"  marry  his  brother's  wife  ?  (who  in  the  language  of  that 
"  time  was  called  his  kinswoman.)  The  pope  answered 
"  negatively,  and  proved  it  by  the  law  of  Moses,  and  therefore 
"  defined,  that  if  any  of  the  English  nation,  who  had  married 
."  within  that  degree,  were  converted  to  the  faith,  he  must  be 
"  admonished  to  abstain  from  his  wife,  and  to  look  on  such  a 
"  marriage  as  a  most  grievous  sin.  From  which  it  appears, 
"  that  that  good  pope  did  judge  it  a  thing  which  by  no  means 
"  could  be  dispensed  with,  otherwise  he  had  not  pressed  it  so 
"  much  under  such  circumstances ;  since,  in  the  first  conver- 
"  sion  of  a  nation  to  the  Christian  faith,  the  insisting  too  much 


-r  ui  p  upon  fi£,  ftm^gjit^  h^^as  kept  back   many  from    receiving  the 

W  C  l\V  lSlN^'H^d  1%\?n'rT  r?  wel  c  °therwise  well  inclined  to  it. 

CLARENDON   PRESS  WAREHOUSE. 

AMEN  CORNER.  LONDON. 
NOT  TO  BE  REMOVED  FROM  THE 

P  FADING  ROOM. 
\ ' 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  169 

Calixtusa,  Zacarias24,  and  Innocent  the  Third'-5,  have  plainly  RAd  omnes 
asserted  the  obligation  of  these  precepts  in  the  law  of  Moses  ;  SCoPo^.  epi 
the  last  particularly,  who  treats  about  it  with  great  vehe-  [Cone.  tom. 
raency  :   so  that  the  apostolic  see  has  already  judged  the 
matter. 

"  Several  provincial  councils  have  also  declared  the  obliga-  And 
tion  of  the  precepts,  about  the  degrees  of  marriage  in  Levi-  counci  a- 
ticus,  by  the  council  at  Neocaesarea  ;  If  a  woman  had  been  Can- 2- 
married  to  two  brothers,  she  was  to  be  cast  out  of  the  com- 
munion of  the  church  till  her  death,  and  the  man  that 
married  his  brother's  wife  was  to  be  anathematized,  which 
was  also  confirmed  in  a  council  held  by  pope  Gregory  the  Can.  5. 
Second.     In  the  council  of  Agde,  where  the  degrees  that  c^/^ 
make  a  marriage  incestuous  are  reckoned,  this  of  marrying  tiv-  I393-I 
the  brother's  wife  is  one  of  them  :   and  there  it  was  decreed, 
that  all  marriages  within  these  degrees  were  null ;    and  the 
parties  so  contracting  ivere  to  be  cast  out  of  the  communion 
of  the  church,  and  put  among  the  catechumens,  till  they 
separated  themselves  from  one  another.     And  in  the  second  Canon.  5. 
council  of  Toledo,  the  authority  of  the  Mosaical  prohibitions       I734-J 
about  the  degrees  of  marriage  is  acknowledged.     It  was  one 
of  Wycliffe's  errors,  that  the  prohibition  of  marriage  within 
such  degrees  was  without  any  foundation  in  the  law  of  God  : 
for  which,  and  other  points,  he  was  condemned,  first  in  a 
convocation  at  London b,  then  at  Oxford0;   and  last  of  all, b  [1382] 

at  the  general  council  of  Constance d,  these  condemnations^1408^ 

a  [1414.1 
were  confirmed.     So  formally  had  the  church  in  many  pro- 
vincial councils,  and  in  one  that  was  general,  decided  this 
matter. 

u  Next  to  these,  the  opinions  of  the  fathers  were  to  be  con-  And  the 
sidered.  In  the  Greek  church  Origene  first  had  occasion  to  e^x'x 
treat  about  it,  writing  on  Leviticus ;    and  Chrysostomf  after  Levit. 
him  ;  but  most  fully  St.  Basil  the  Greats,  who  do  expressly  fHom'n.Vi. 
assert  the  obligations  of  these  precepts.  The  last  particularly  on  xxii- 
refuting,  at  great  length,  the  opinion  of  some  who  thought  [§2.]' 
the  marrying  two  sisters  was  not  unlawful,  lays  it  down  as  a  f^Ji8*' 
foundation,  that  the  laws  in  Leviticus  about  marriage  were  ad  Diodor. 

[iii.  249.] 

34  [Decretum,  pars  ii.  caus.]  30.  25  [Decretal,  lib.  li.    tit.  23.]  De 

QHPPst.3.  Cap.  [3]  Pitacium.  Tra-s.  cap.  [15]  cum  in  juventute. 


170  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

nOn  Levit.  "  still  in  force.  Hesychiusa  also,  writing  upon  Leviticus,  proves 
xT'rBibl  "  tna^  these  prohibitions  were  universally  obligatory,  because 
Patr.  Max.  "  both  the  Egyptians  and  Canaanites  are  taxed  for  marrying 
141.]  I2''    "within  these  degrees;    from  whence  he  infers,  they  are  of 

"  moral  and  eternal  obligation. 

And  the  "  From  the    Greek  they  went   to   the  Latin  fathers,  and 

fathers.       "  alleged,  as  was  already  observed,  that  Tertullian  held  the 

"  same  opinion  ;    and  with  him  agreed  the  three  great  doctors 

i>Lib.  viii.  "  of  the  Latin  church,  Ambrose6,  Jeromec,  and   St.  Austin-8, 

c  cont"1  "   "  wn0  do  plainly  deliver  the  tradition  of  the  church  about  the 

Helvi-         "  obligation  of  those  laws,  and  answer  the  objections  that  were 

"  made,  either  from  Abraham's  marrying  his  sister,  or  from 

"  Jacob's  marrying  two  sisters  ;    or  the  law  in  Deuteronomy, 

"  for  the   brother's  marrying   the   brother's  wife,  if  he  died 

"  without  children. 

And  of  the      "  They  observed,  that  the  same  doctrine  was  also  taught  by 

modem       ct  the  fathers  and  doctors  in  the  latter  ages.     Ansel  md  held  it, 

a  In  Epist.  "  and   pleads    much   for   marrying   in   remote    degrees,    and 

ad  Pium      «  answers  the  objection  from  the  decision  in  the  case  of  the 

fratrem.  29  •» 

Onxviii.  "daughters  of  Zelophehad.  Hugo  Cardinalis30,  Radulphus 
Lev.  ((  p]avjacensis-3ijan(lRUpertusXuitiensis:32,  do  agree,  that  these 

"  precepts  are  moral,  and  of  perpetual  obligation ;  as  also 
e  Lib.  ii.  de  u  Hugo  de  Sto.  Victoree.  Hildebert,  bishop  of  Mans,  being 
Sacram.      i(  consuitecl  \n  a  case  0f  the  same  nature  with  what  is  now 

p.  xi.  c.  4. 

art.  2.33  «  controverted,  plainly  determines f,  that  a  man  may  not  marry 

f  ?Plst;  "  his  brother's  wife;   and  by  many  authorities  shews,  that  by 

Eotomag.  "  no  means  it  can  be  allowed.     And  Ivo  Carnotensis,  being 

I     34*  "  desired  to  give  his  opinion  in  a  case  of  the  same  circumstances, 

s  Epist.  "  of  a  king's  marrying  his  brother's  wife,  saysS,  "Such  a  mar- 

24  '  "  riage  is  null,  as  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God ;   and 
"  that  the  king  was  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  communion  of 

26  [Al.  60.  torn.  h.  col.  1 107.]  30  [In  Bibl.  Sac.  torn.  i.  fol.  116. 

27  [§  15.   torn.  ii.  col.  223.    ed.     ed.  Bas.  1504.] 

Veron.  1734-42.]  31  [In  Levit.  lib.  xiii.  c.14.  Bibl. 

28  Cont.  Faust,  [lib.  32.]  c.  8,  9,     Patr.  torn.  xvii.  p.  170.] 

10.    [torn.  viii.   col.  365,    sqq.]    et  32  [In  Levit.  lib.  ii.    c.  32.    Op. 

Qusest.  64.  in    Lev.  [torn.  iii.  col.  tom.i.  p.  278.  Venet.  1478.] 

518.]     Ad    Bonifac.  lib.  iii.    c.  4.  33  [Op.  torn.  iii.  fol.  293,  b ;  ed. 

[§.10.  torn.  x.  col.  453.   Lib.  15.  de  Venet.  1588.] 

Civ.  Dei,  c.xvi.  [torn.  vii.  C0I.397.J  34  [Epist.  lib.  ii.  14,  et  2  ;  pp.95, 

29  [(Epist.  iii.  158.)    Op.  p.  141;  et  79.  ed.  Par.  1708.] 

ed.  Par.  1721.]  •''"'  [Op.  p.  106,  b;  ed.  Paris.  1647.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1530.)  171 

"  the  church,  till  he  put  away  his  wife,  since  there  was  no 
"  dispensing  with  the  laiv  of  God,  and  no  sacrifice  could 
"  be  offered  for  those  that  continued  ivillingly  in  sin.  Pas- 
"  sages  also  to  the  same  purpose  are  in  other  places  of  his 
"  epistles. 

"  From  these  doctors  and  fathers  the  inquiry  descended  to  The 
"  the  schoolmen,  who  had  with  more  niceness  and  subtlety  ex- 
"  amined  things.     They  do  all  agree  in  asserting  the  obliga- 
"  tion  of  these  Levitical  prohibitions.     Thomas  Aquinas a  does  a  2rta.  2die. 
"it  in  many  places,  and  confirms  it  with   many  arguments.  ^^ 'IS4' 
"  Altisiodorensis  says,  they  are  moral  laws,  and  part  of  the  In  tertiam 
"  law  of  nature.     Petrus  de  Palucle  is  of  the  same  mind ;    and  art.  3. 
"  says,  that  a  man's  marrying  his  brother's  wife  was  a  dispen-  *?  4tam 

.  d      °  l  dist.  40. 

"  sation  granted    by   God,    but    could    not   be    now    allowed,  Qusest.  [i. 
100  "  because  it  was  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature.    St.  Antonine  of  ±  'if 

"  et  4.  -1" 

'■'  Florence,  Joannes    de   Turre   Cremata,  Joannes    de  Tabia, 

"  Jacobus  de  Lausania,  and  Astexanus,  were  also  cited  for 

"  the  same  opinion.      And  those  who  wrote  against  AVycliffe, 

"  namely,  Wydefordb,  Cotton,  and  Waldensisc,  charged  him  b  Cont. 

"  with  heresy,  for  denying  that  those  prohibitions  did  oblige  8  ^     art' 

"  Christians  :    and  asserted,  that  they  were  moral  laws,  which  c  Lib.  de 

"  obliged  all  mankind.     And  the  books  of  Waldensis   were  tomiii. 

'•'  approved  by  pope  Martin  the  First.     There  were  also  many  c-  r34: 

"  quotations  brought  out  of  Petrus  de  Tarentasia,  Durandus,  et  aiicitis 

"  Stephanus   Brulifer,  Richardus  de  Media  Villa,  Guide  Bri-  conjugiis.37 

"  ancon,  Gerson,  Paulus  Ritius,  and  many  others,  to  confirm 

"  the  same  opinion,  who  did  all  unanimously  assert,  that  those 

"  laws  in  Leviticus  are  parts  of  the  law  of  nature,  which  oblige 

"  all  mankind,  and  that  marriages  contracted  in  these  degrees 

"  are  null  and  void.     All  the  canonists  were  also  of  the  same  And  ca- 

"  mind ;  Joannes  Andreas,  Joannes  de  Imola,  Abbas  Panormita- 11W11S  ta 

"  nus,    Matthseus   Neru[tius],    Vincentius,    Innocentius,    and 

"  Ostiensis,  all  concluded  that  these  laws  were  still  in  force, 

"  and  could  not  be  dispensed  with. 

"  There  was  also  a  great  deal  alleged  to  prove,  that  a  mar-  Marriage 
"  riage  is  completed  by  the  marriage-contract,  though  it  be  by™onsenis 
"  never   consummated.     Many    authorities    were    brought   to 

35  [Tom.  23.    p.  217;   torn.  25.         36    [Ap.   Brown,  Fascic.   Rerum 
p.  198;   torn.  13.  p.  240.   cd.  Ven.      Expetend.  vol.  i.  p.  213.] 
1745-1760.]  ;ir  [p. 330b;   Venct.  1571;] 


172 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Violent 
presump- 
tions of 
the  con- 
summation 
of  prince 
Arthur's 
marriage. 


"  prove  that  Adonijah  could  not  marry  Abishag,  because  she 
"  was  his  father's  wife,  though  never  known  by  him.  And  by 
"  the  law  of  Moses,  a  woman  espoused  to  a  man,  if  she  admitted 
"  another  to  her  bed,  was  to  be  stoned  as  an  adulteress ;  from 
"  whence  it  appears,  that  the  validity  of  marriage  is  from  the 
"  mutual  covenant.  And  though  Joseph  never  knew  the 
"  blessed  Virgin,  yet  he  was  so  much  her  husband  by  the 
"  espousals,  that  he  could  not  put  her  away  but  by  a  bill  of 
"  divorce  :  and  was  afterwards  called  her  husband,  and  Christ's 
"  father.  Affinity  had  been  also  denned  by  all  writers,  a 
"  relation  arising  out  of  marriage ;  and  since  marriage  was  a 
"  sacrament  of  the  church,  its  essence  could  only  consist  in  the 
"  contract :  and  therefore,  as  a  man  in  orders  has  the  charac- 
u  ter,  though  he  never  consecrated  any  sacrament ;  so  mar- 
"  riage  is  complete,  though  its  effect  never  follow.  And  it  was 
"  shewed,  that  the  canonists  had  only  brought  in  the  consum- 
"  mation  of  marriage  as  essential  to  it  by  ecclesiastical  law  : 
"  but  that,  as  Adam  and  Eve  were  perfectly  married  before 
"  they  knew  one  another,  so  marriage  was  complete  upon  the 
"  contract ;  and  what  followed  was  only  an  effect  done  in  the 
"  right  of  the  marriage.  And  there  was  a  great  deal  of  filthy 
"  stuff  brought  together,  of  the  different  opinions  of  the 
"  canonists  concerning  consummation,  to  what  degree  it  must 
"  go,  to  shew  that  it  could  not  be  essential  to  the  marriage 
<c  contract,  which  in  modesty  were  suppressed.  Both  Hildebert 
"  of  Mans,  Ivo  Carnotcnsis,  and  Hugo  de  Sto.  Victore,  had  de- 
"  livered  this  opinion,  and  proved  it  out  of  St.  Chrysostom, 
"  Ambrose,  Austin,  and  Isidore.  Pope  Nicolas,  and  the 
"  council  of  Tribur,  defined,  that  marriage  Avas  completed  by 
"  the  consent  and  the  benediction.  From  all  which  they  con- 
"  eluded,  that  although  it  could  not  be  proved  that  prince 
"  Arthur  knew  the  queen,  yet  that,  she  being  once  lawfully 
"  married  to  him,  the  king  could  not  afterwards  marry  her. 

"  It  was  also  said,  that  violent  presumptions  were  sufficient 
"  in  the  opinion  of  the  canonists  to  prove  consummation. 
"  Formal  proofs  could  not  be  expected  ;  and  for  persons  that 
"  were  of  age,  and  in  good  health,  to  be  in  bed  together,  was,  101 
"  in  all  trials  about  consummation,  all  that  the  canonists  sought 
"  for.  And  yet  this  was  not  all  in  this  case  ;  for  it  appeared, 
"  that,  upon  her  husband's  death,  she  was  kept   with   great 


book  il]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1530.)  173 

"  care  by  some  ladies,  who  did  think  her  with  child  ;  and  she 
"  never  said  any  thing  against  it.  And  in  the  petition  offered 
"  to  the  pope  in  her  name,  (repeated  in  the  bull  that  was  pro- 
"  cured  for  the  second  marriage,)  it  is  said,  she  was  perhaps 
"  known  by  prince  Arthur ;  and  in  the  breve  it  is  plainly 
"  said,  she  was  known  by  prince  Arthur :  and  though  the 
"  queen  offered  to  purge  herself  by  oath,  that  prince  Arthur 
"  never  knew  her,  it  was  proved  by  many  authorities  out  of 
"  the  canon  law,  that  a  party's  oath  ought  not  to  be  taken, 
"  when  there  were  violent  presumptions  to  the  contrary. 

"As  for  the  validity  of  the  pope's  dispensation,  it  was  said,  The  pope'* 

1  1  •  t  1  ii  •       dispensa- 

'*  that  though  the  schoolmen  and  canonists  did  generally  raise  tion  [not] 

"  the  pope's  power  very  high,  and  stretch  it  as  far  as  it  was  e- 

"  possible ;  yet  they  all  agree  that  it  could  not  reach  the  king's 

"  case  ;  upon  this  received  maxim,  that  only  the  laivs  of  the 

"  church  are  subject  to  the  pope,  and  may  be  dispensed  with 

"  by  him,  but  that  the  laws  of  God  are  above  him,  and  that 

"  he  cannot  dispense  ivith  them  in  any  case.     This  Aquinas a  aInquodlib, 

"  delivers  in  many  places  of  his  works.     Petrus   dc  Palude  Art.  13. 

"  says,  the  pope  cannot  dispense  with  marriage  in  these  de-  et  in  <luar" 

"  grees,  because  it  is  against  nature.     But  Joannes  de  Turreb  15.  q.  3. 

"  Cremata  reports  a  singular  case,  which  fell  out  when  he  was  Art- 2-68 

"  a  cardinal.    A  king  of  France  desired  a  dispensation  to  marry  q^I  _p" 

"  his  wife's  sister.     The  matter  was  long  considered  of,  and  tionis  35. 

"debated  in  the  Rota,  himself  being  there,  and  bearing  a^'A'.  89 

"  share  in  the  debate  ;   but  it  was  concluded,  that  if  any  pope, 

"  either  out  of  ignorance,  or  being  corrupted,  had  ever  granted 

"  such  a  dispensation,  that  could  be  no  precedent  or  warrant 

"for  doing  the  like  any  more,  since  the  church  ought  to  be 

"  governed  by  laws,  and  not  by  such  examples.    Antonine,  and 

"  Johannes  de  Tabia,  held  the  same.     And  one  Bacon,  an 

"  Englishman,  who  had  taught  the  contrary,  was  censured  for 

"  it  even  at  Rome ;  and  he  did  retract  his  opinion,  and  ac- 

"  knowledged,   that    the    pope    could   not   dispense    with    the 

"  degrees  of  marriage  forbidden  by  the  law  of  God. 

"  The  canonists  agree  also  to  this  ;  both  Joannes  xlndreas40, 

38  [Tom.  xvii.  p.  308;    torn.  xii.     p.  465.  Venet.  1578.] 

p.  389.]  40  Comment,  in  Decretal.  Sup.  Cap. 

39  [Comment.  Sup.  Gratiani  De-  Literas  de  Rest.  Spoli.  [lib.  ii.  tit. 
creto  par.  ii.]  Cap.  Conjunctionis  xiii.  cap.  13.  §  23.  torn.  ii.  fol.  84. 
[caus.]  35.  Q.  2.  et.  3.  [§  3.  torn.  ii.  Venet.  1581.] 


174 


THE    111  STORY    OF 


[paws  1. 


Sup.  Cap. 
Literas  de 
Best. 
Spoli. 


Cap.  ad 
Audien. 
Spousal. 
[Decretal, 
lib.  iv. 
tit.  i.] 
Cap.  4. 


Several 
bishops 
refuse  to 
submit  to 


"  Joannes  de  Iniola  ■  ,  and  Abbas  Panormitanus41,  assert  it,  say- 
';  ing,  that  the  precepts  in  Leviticus  oblige  for  ever,  and  there- 
"  fore  cannot  be  dispensed  with.  And  Panormitan  says,  These 
'•  things  are  to.be  observed  in  practice,  because  great princed 
"  do  often  desire  dispensations  from  popes.  Pope  Alexander 
'•  the  Third  would  not  suffer  a  citizen  of  Pavia  to  marry  his 
"  younger  son  to  the  widow  of  his  eldest  son,  though  he  had 
"  sworn  to  do  it.  For  the  pope  said,  it  was  against  the  law  of 
"  God,  therefore  it  might  not  be  done  ;  and  he  was  to  repent 
"  of  his  unlawful  oath. 

"  And  for  the  power  of  dispensing  even  with  the  laws  of  the 
"  church  by  popes,  it  was  brought  in  in  the  latter  ages.  All 
"  the  fathers  with  one  consent  believed,  that  the  laws  of  God 
"  could  not  be  dispensed  with  by  the  church,  for  which  many 
"  places  were  cited  out  of  St.  Cyprian,  Basil,  Ambrose,  Isidore, 
"  Bernard,  and  Urban ;  Fabian,  Marcellus,  and  Innocent,  that 
"  were  popes ;  besides  an  infinite  number  of  later  writers.  And 
"  also  the  popes  Zosimus,  Damasus,  Leo,  and  Hilarius  did 
"  freely  acknowledge  they  could  not  change  the  decrees  of  the 
"  church,  nor  go  against  the  opinions  or  practices  of  the 
"  fathers.  And  since  the  apostles  confessed  they  could  do  102 
"  nothing  against  the  truth,  but  for  the  truth ;  the  pope, 
"  being  Christ's  vicar,  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  so  great  a 
"  power  as  to  abrogate  the  law  of  God  :  and  though  it  is  acknow- 
"  ledged,  that  he  is  vested  with  a  fulness  of  power,  yet  the 
"  phrase  must  be  restrained  to  the  matter  of  it,  which  is,  the 
"  pastoral  care  of  souls.  And  though  there  was  no  court 
"  superior  to  the  pope's,  yet  as  St.  Paul  had  withstood  St.  Peter 
"  to  his  face  ;  so  in  all  ages,  upon  several  occasions,  holy 
"  bishops  have  refused  to  comply  with,  or  submit  to  orders  sent 
"  from  Rome,  when  they  thought  the  matter  of  them  unlawful. 

"  Laurence,  that  succeeded  Austin  the  monk  in  the  see  of 
"  Canterbury,  having  excommunicated  king  Edbald  for  an 
"  incestuous  marriage4-,  would  not  absolve  him  till  he  put  away 


in  Decretal,  sup. 
torn.  ii.    fol.  41. 


40  [Comment. 
Cap.  eod.  §  6. 
Lugd.  1525.] 

41  [Comment,  in  Decretal,  sup. 
cap.  eod.  §  4.  torn.  ii.  fol.  181. 
Lugd.  1586.] 

42  [Laurence  did  not  excommu- 


nicate Edbald,  nor  could  he,  Edbald 
being  yet  a  heathen;  and  upon  his 
conversion  he  put  away  his  wife. 
Bed.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap. 5, 6.  Malmesb. 
lib.  i.  But  I  suppose  your  lordship 
may  follow  your  authority  and  then 
all  is  well.     [B.] 


iookii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1530.)  175 

"  his  wife  ;    though   the   pope  plied  him  earnestly,   both   by  tlle  pope's 
"  entreaties  and  thre.itenings,  to  let  it  alone,  and  absolve  him.  Gulielm. 
"  Dunstan  did  the  like  to  count  Edwin,  for  another  incestuous  ^aimesb. 

lib.  1. 

te  marriage ;    nor  did  all  the  pope's  interposition  make  him[Degest. 
"  give  over.     They  found  many  other  such  instances,  which  j.^-  ~? 
"  occurred  in  the  ecclesiastical  history,  of  bishops  proceeding  Lond. 
"  by  censures,  and  other  methods,  to  stop  the  course  of  sin,  not-  m^on 
"  withstanding  any  encouragement  the  parties  had  from  popes.  Annal. 

"  And  it  is  certain  that  every  man,  when  he  finds  himself  tom.  xvi. 
"  engaged  in  any  course  which  is  clearly  sinful,  ought  presently  P-  2°3-  ed- 
"  to  forsake  it,  according  to  the  opinion  of  all  divines.     And  1738-59.] 
"  therefore  the  king,  upon  these  evidences  of  the  unlawfulness 
"  of  his  marriage,  ought  to  abstain  from  the  queen  ;    and  the 
"  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  the  other  bishops,  ought  to 
"  require  him  to  do  it,  otherwise  they  must  proceed  to  church- 
"  censures.     Many  things  were  also  brought  from  reason,  (or 
"  at  least  the  maxims  of  the  school  philosophy,  which  passed 
"  for  true  reasons  in  those  days,)  to  prove  marriage  in  the 
"  degrees  forbidden  by  Moses  to  be  contrary  to  the  law  of 
"  nature ;  and  much  was  alleged  out  of  profane  authors,  to 
"  shew   what  an   abhorrency  some   heathen   nations  had  of 
"  incestuous  marriages. 

"  And  whereas  the  chief  strength  of  the  arguments  for  the  Theauthor- 
'•  contrary  opinion  rested  in  this,   that  these  laws  of  Moses  dition. 
"  were  not  confirmed  by  Christ  or  his  apostles  in   the  New 
"  Testament :  to  that  they  answered,  that  if  the  laws  about 
"  marriage  were  moral,  as  had  been  proved,  then  there  was 
"  no  need  of  a  particular  confirmation,  since  those  words  of  our 
"  Saviour,  /  came  not  to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfil  it,  do  [Matt.  v. 
"  confirm   the  whole  moral  law.     Christ  had  also   expressly 
"  asserted  the  relation  of  affinity,  saying,  That  man  and  wife  [Matt.  xix. 
"  are  one  flesh.   St.  Paul  also  condemned  a  match  as  incestuous 
"  for  affinity.     But  though  it  were  not  expressly  set  down  in 
•'  the  gospel,  yet  the  traditions  of  the  church  are  received  with 
"  equal  authority  to  written  verities.     This  the  court  of  Rome, 
"  and  all  the  learned  writers  for  the  catholic  faith,  lay  down  as 
"  a  fundamental  truth.     And  without  it,  how  could  the  seven 
"  sacraments,  (some  of  which  are  not  mentioned  in  the  New 
"  Testament,)  with  many  other  articles  of  catholic  belief,  be 


176  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part,. 

"  maintained  against  the  heretics  '!  The  tradition  of  the  church 
"  being  so  full  and  formal  in  this  particular,  must  take  place : 
"  and  if  any  corruptions  have  been  brought  in  by  some  popes 
"  within  an  age  or  two,  which  have  never  had  any  other 
"  authority  from  the  decrees  of  the  church,  or  the  opinions  of 
"  learned  men,  they  are  not  to  be  maintained  in  opposition  to 
"  the  evidence  that  is  brought  on  the  other  side." 

This  I  have  summed  up  in  as  short  and  comprehensive  words  103 
as  I  could,  being  the  substance  of  what  I  gathered  out  of  the 
printed  books  and  manuscripts  for  the  king's  cause.  But  the 
fidelity  of  an  historian  leads  me  next  to  open  the  arguments 
that  were  brought  against  it,  by  those  who  wrote  on  the  other 
side  for  the  queen's  cause,  to  prove  the  validity  of  the  marriage, 
and  the  pope's  power  of  dispensing  with  a  marriage  in  that 
degree  of  affinity. 

I  could  never,  by  all  the  search  I  have  made,  see  either 
MSS.   or  printed   books  that  defended  their  cause43,  except 
Cajetan's44  and  Victoria's4"'  books,  that  are  printed  in  their 
works.     But  from  an  answer  that  was  written  to  the  bishop  of 
Rochester's  book,  and  from  some  other  writings  on  the  other 
side,  I  gather  the  substance  of  their  arguments  to  have  been 
what  follows  : 
The  argu-        "  Cardinal  Cajetan  had  by  many  arguments  endeavoured  to 
ments  for    «  prove?  ^]ia^  the  prohibitions  in  Leviticus  were  not  parts  of 
riage.  "  the  moral  law.     They  were  not  observed  before  the  law,  no 

"  not  by  the  holy  seed.  Adam's  children  married  one  another, 
"  Abraham  married  his  sister,  Jacob  married  two  sisters,  Judah 
"  gave  his  two  sons  to  Tamar,  and  promised  to  give  her 
"  the  third  for  her  husband.  By  the  law  of  Moses,  a  dispen- 
"  sation  was  granted  in  one  case,  for  marrying  the  brother's 
"  wife,  which  shews  the  law  was  not  moral,  otherwise  it  could 

43  [There  was  a  book  printed  at  whether  his  book  was  printed  be- 

Lunenburgh  anno  1532,  dedicated  to  fore  the  year  1535  I  do  not  know, 

the  emperor's  ambassador  in  Eng-  It  was  then  printed  in  quarto.  [B.] 
land,    Eustathius    Chapnysius   &c.  44[De  conjugio  cumrelicta  fratris. 

It  is  against  the  divorce,  and  charges  Opusc.    torn.    iii.    Tractt.    13,    14. 

very  indirect  practices  on  the  other  pp.  295  sqq.     Lugd.  1562.] 
side    by    moneys    and    bribes    &c.  45  [Relectiones :    viia.   de  Matri- 

Cochleus  likewise  wrote  against  the  monio.  pp.  253,  sqq.  Lugd.  1586.] 
divorce,    ad  Paulum  Tertium ;  but 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1531.)  177 

"  not  be  dispensed  with  ;  and  if  Moses  dispensed  with  it,  why 
"  might  not  the  pope  as  well  do  it  'I  Nor  was  there  any  force 
"  in  the  places  cited  from  the  New  Testament.  As  for  that  of 
"  Herod,  both  Joseph  us  and  Eusebius  witness,  that  his  brother 
"  Philip  was  alive  when  he  took  his  wife,  and  so  his  sin  was 
"  adultery,  and  not  incest.  We  must  also  think  that  the 
"  incestuous  person  in  Corinth  took  his  father's  wife  when  he 
"  was  yet  living ;  otherwise,  if  he  had  been  dead,  St.  Paul 
"  could  not  say  it  was  a  fornication  not  named  among  the 
"  Gentiles :  for  we  not  only  find,  both  among  the  Persians 
"  and  other  nations,  the  marriage  of  step-mothers  allowed  ; 
"  but  even  among  the  Jews,  Adonijah  desired  Abishag  in  mar- 
"  riage,  who  had  been  his  father's  concubine." 

From  all  which  they  concluded,  "  That  the  laws  about  the 
"  degrees  of  marriage  were  only  judiciary  precepts,  and  so 
'•  there  was  no  other  obligation  on  Christians  to  obey  them, 
"  than  what  flowed  from  the  laws  of  the  church,  with  which 
"  the  pope  might  dispense.  They  also  said,  that  the  law  in 
"  Leviticus,  of  not  taking;  the  brother's  wife,  must  be  under- 
"  stood  of  not  taking  her  while  he  was  alive  ;  for  after  he  was 
"  dead,  by  another  law,  a  man  might'  marry  his  brother's 
"  wife. 

"  They  also  pleaded,  that  the  pope's  power  of  dispensing  did 
"  reach  further  than  the  laws  of  the  church,  evea  to  the  law  of 
"  God ;  for  he  daily  dispensed  with  the  breaking  of  oaths  and 
"  vows,  though  that  was  expressly  contrary  to  the  second  com- 
"  mandment :  and  though  the  fifth  commandment.  Thou  shalt 
"  do  no  murder,  be  against  killing,  yet  the  pope  dispensed 
"  with  the  putting  thieves  to  death  ;  and  in  some  cases,  where 
"  the  reason  of  the  commandment  does  not  at  all  times  hold, 
"  he  is  the  only  judge  according  to  Summa  Angelica.  They 
"  concluded  the  pope's  power  of  dispensing  was  as  necessary  as 
"  his  power  of  expounding  the  scriptures  ;  and  since  there  was 
"  a  question  made  concerning  the  obligation  of  these  Levitical 
"  prohibitions,  whether  they  were  moral,  and  did  oblige  Christ- 
104  "  ians  or  not,  the  pope  must  be  the  only  judge.  There  were 
"  also  some  late  precedents  found,  one  of  P.  Martin,  who,  in 
"  the  case  of  a  man's  having  married  his  own  sister,  who 
"  had  lived  long  with  her,  upon  a  consultation  with  divines  and 

BUBNET,  PART  I.  N 


178  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part 

"  lawyers,  confirmed  it,  to  prevent  the  scandal  which  the  dis- 
"  solving  of  it  would  have  given.  Upon  which  St.  Antonin  of 
"  Florence  says,  that  since  the  thing  was  dispensed  with,  it 
"  was  to  be  referred  to  the  judgment  of  God,  and  not  to  be 
'*  condemned. 

"  The  pope  had  granted  this  dispensation,  upon  a  very 
"  weighty  consideration,  to  keep  peace  between  two  great 
"  crowns :  it  had  now  stood  above  twenty  years :  it  would 
"  therefore  raise  an  high  scandal  to  bring  it  under  debate; 
"  besides  that  it  would  do  much  hurt,  and  bring  the  titles  to 
"  most  crowns  into  controversy. 

"  But  they  concluded,  that,  whatever  informalities  or  nullities 
"  were  pretended  to  be  in  the  bulls  or  breves,  the  pope  was  the 
"  only  competent  judge  of  it ;  and  that  it  was  too  high  a  pre- 
"  sumption  for  inferior  prelates  to  take  upon  them  to  examine 
"  or  discuss  it." 
The  an-  But  to  these  arguments  it  was  answered  by  the  writers  for 

tolhese1  &  *,ne  kmg's  cause,  "  that  it  was  strange  to  see  men,  who  pre- 
"  tended  to  be  such  enemies  to  ail  heretical  novelties,  yet  be 
"  guilty  of  that  which  catholic  doctors  hold  to  be  the  founda- 
"  tion  of  all  heresy  f  which  was,  the  setting  up  of  private 
"  senses  of  scripture,  and  reasonings  from  them,  against  the 
"  doctrine  and  tradition  of  the  church.  It  was  fully  made  out, 
"  that  the  fathers  and  doctors  of  the  church  did  universally 
"  agree  in  this,  that  the  Levitical  prohibitions  of  the  degrees  of 
"  marriage  are  moral,  and  do  oblige  all  Christians.  Against 
"  this  authority,  Cajetan  was  the  first  that  presumed  to  write, 
"  opposing  his  private  conceits  to  the  tradition  of  the  church  : 
"  which  is  the  same  thing;  for  which  Luther  and  his  followers 
"  are  so  severely  condemned.  May  it  not  then  be  justly  said  of 
"  such  men,  that  they  plead  much  for  tradition  when  it  makes 
"  for  them,  but  reject  it  when  it  is  against  them  ?  Therefore 
"  all  these  exceptions  are  overthrown  with  this  one  maxim  of 
"  catholic  doctrine,  That  they  are  novelties  against  the  con- 
"  stant  tradition  of  the  Christian  church  in  all  ages.  But  if 
"  the  force  of  them  be  also  examined,  they  will  be  found  as 
"  weak  as  they  are  new.     That  before  the  law  these  degrees 

30  Not  his  own  sister,  but  his  wife's  own  sister,  or  the  sister  of  one 
whom  he  had  carnally  known.    Antonin.  Flor.  par.  3.  tit.  i.  cap.  11.  [B.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1531.)  '    179 

"  were  not  observed,  proves  only,  that  they  are  not  evidently 
"  contrary  to  the  common  sense  of  all  men :  but  as  there  are 
"  some  moral  precepts,  which  have  that  natural  evidence 
"  in  them,  that  all  men  must  discern  it ;  so  there  are  others, 
"  that  are  drawn  from  public  inconvenience  and  dishonesty, 
"  which  are  also  parts  of  the  law  of  nature  :  these  prohibitions 
"  are  not  of  the  first,  but  of  the  second  sort,  since  the  im- 
tf  morality  of  them  appears  in  this,  that  the  familiarities  and 
"  freedoms  amongst  near  relations  are  such,  that  if  an  horror 
"  were  not  struck  in  men  at  conjunctures  in  these  degrees, 
"  families  would  be  much  defiled.  This  is  the  foundation  of  the 
"  prohibitions  of  marriages  in  these  degrees :  therefore  it  is 
"  not  strange  if  men  did  not  apprehend  it,  before  God  made  a 
"  law  concerning  it.  Therefore  all  examples  before  the  law 
"  shew  only  the  thing  is  not  so  evident,  as  to  be  easily  collected 
"  by  the  light  of  nature.  And  for  the  story  of  Judah  and 
105  "  Tamar,  there  is  so  much  wickedness  in  all  the  parts  of  it, 
"  that  it  will  be  very  hard  to  make  a  precedent  out  of  any 
"  part  of  it.  As  for  the  provision  about  marrying  the 
"  brother's  wife,  that  only  proves  the  ground  of  the  law  is  not 
"  of  its  own  nature  immutable,  but  may  be  dispensed  with  by 
"  God  in  some  cases.  And  all  these  moral  laws,  that  are 
"  founded  on  public  conveniency  and  honesty,  are  dispensable 
"  by  God  in  some  cases ;  but  because  Moses  did  it  by  divine 
"  revelation,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  pope  can  do  it  by 
"  his  ordinary  authority. 

"  For  that  about  Herod,  it  is  not  clear  from  Josephus  that 
"  Philip  was  alive  when  Herod  married  his  wife.  For  all  that 
"  Josephus  says  is,  that  she  separated  from  her  husband  when 
"  he  was  yet  alive,  and  divorced  herself  from  him.  But  he 
"  does  not  say,  that  he  lived  still  after  she  married  his  brother. 
"  And  by  the  law  of  divorce,  marriage  was  at  an  end,  and 
"  broken  by  it  as  much  as  if  the  party  had  been  dead,  so  that 
"  in  that  case  she  might  have  married  any  other  :  therefore 
"  Herod's  sin  in  taking  her  was  from  the  relation  of  having  been 
"  his  brother's  wife.  And  for  the  incestuous  person  in  Corinth, 
"  it  is  as  certain,  that  though  some  few  instances  of  a  king  of 
"  Syria,  and  some  others,  may  be  brought  of  sons  marrying 
"  their  step-mothers,  yet  these  things  were  generally  ill  looked 
"  on,  even  where  they  were  practised  by  some  princes,  who 

N   2 


180     '  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

"  made   their   pleasure   their   law.     Nor   could   the   laws   of 

"  Leviticus  be  understood  of  not  marrying  the  brother's  wife 

"  when  he  was  alive  ;  for  it  was  not  lawful  to  take  any  man's 

"  wife  from  him  living  :   therefore  that  cannot  be  the  meaning. 

"  And  all  those  prohibitions  of  marriage  in  other    degrees, 

"  excluding  those  marriages  simply,  whether  during  the  life, 

"  or  after  the  death  of  the  father,  son,  uncle,  and  other  such 

"  relations,  there  is  no  ground  to  disjoin  this  so  much  from  the 

"  rest,  as  to  make  it   only  extend  to  a  marriage  before  the 

"  husband's  death.    And  for  any  precedents  that  were  brought, 

"  they  were  all  in  the  latter  ages,  and  were  never  confirmed 

"  by  any  public  authority.     Nor  must  the  practices  of  latter 

"  popes  be  laid  in  the  balance  against  the  decisions  of  former 

"  popes,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  whole  church  ;  and  as  to  the 

11  power  that  was  ascribed  to   the   pope,  that  began  now  to 

"  be  inquired  into  with  great  freedom,  as  shall  appear  after- 

"  wards." 

The  queen       These  reasons  on  both  sides  being  thus  opened,  the  censures 

table1.0  raC'  °f  them,  it  is  like,  will  be  as  different  now,  as  they  were  then : 

for  they  prevailed  very  little  on  the  queen,  who  still  persisted 

Hall.  [pp.    to  justify  her  marriage,  and  to  stand   to  her  appeal.     And 

'  though  the  king  carried  it  very  kindly  to  her  in  all  outward 

appearance,   and   employed   everybody  that  had   credit  with 

her  to  bring  her  to  submit  to  him,  and  to  pass  from  her  appeal, 

remitting  the  decision  of  the  matter  to  any  four  prelates,  and 

four  secular  men  in  England,  she  was  still   immovable,  and 

would   hearken  to    no   proposition.      In  the  judgments    that 

people   passed,  the    sexes  were   divided;    the  men  generally 

approved  the  king's  cause,  and  the  women  favoured  the  queen. 

A  session  of  But  now  the  session  of  parliament  came  on  the  sixteenth  of 

par  iamen  .  januarVj  an(j  there  the  king  first  brought  into  the  house  of 

lords  the  determination  of  the  universities,  and  the  books  that 

were  written  for  his  cause  by  foreigners.     After  they  were 

More.         read  and  considered   there,  the  lord  chancellor  did    on  the 

L    ar.  30.J  twentieth  of  March,  with  twelve  lords  both  of  the  spiritualty 

and  temporalty,  go  clown  to  the  house  of  commons,  and  shewed  106 
them  what  the  universities  and  learned  men  beyond  sea  had 
written  for  the  divorce,  and  produced  twelve  original  papers, 
with  the  seals  of  the  universities  to  them,  which  sir  Brian  Tuke 
took  out  of  his  hand,  and  read  openly  in  the  house,  translating 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.  (1531.)  181 

the  Latin  into  English.  Then  about  an  hundred  books,  writ- 
ten  by  foreign  divines  for  the  divorce,  were  also  shewed  them ; 
none  of  which  were  read,  but  put  oif  to  another  time,  it  being 
late.  When  that  was  done,  the  lord  chancellor  desired  they 
would  report  in  their  countries  ivhat  they  had  heard  and  seen, 
and  then  all  men  should  clearly  perceive,  that  the  king  hath 
not  attempted  this  matter  of  will  and  pleasure,  as  strangers 
say,  but  only  for  the  discharge  of  his  conscience,  and  the 
security  of  the  succession  to  the  crown.  Having  said  that,  he 
left  the  house.  The  matter  was  also  brought  before  the  con-  Convoca- 
vocation31 ;  and  they,  having  weighed  all  that  was  said  on  both 
sides,  seemed  satisfied  that  the  marriage  was  unlawful,  and 
that  the  bull  was  of  no  force ;  more  not  being  required  at  that 
time. 

But  it  is  not  strange  that  this  matter  went  so  easily  in  the 
convocation,  when  another  of  far  greater  consequence  passed 
there,  which  will  require  a  full  and  distinct  account.     Cardinal 
Wolsey,  by  exercising  his  legatine  authority,  had  fallen  into  a  The  whole 
praemunire,  as  hath  been  already  shewn ;  and  now  those  who  \^l^ 
had  appeared  in  his  courts,  and  had  suits  there,  were  found  to  mimire. 
be  likewise  in  the  same  guilt  by  the  law  ;  and  this  matter, 
being  excepted  out  of  the   pardon  that  was  granted  in  the 
former  parliament,  was  at  this  time  set  on  foot  :  therefore  an 
indictment  was  brought  into  the  king's  bench  against  all  the 
clergy  of  England,  for  breaking  the  statutes  against  provisions 
or  provisors.     But  to  open  this  more  clearly, 

It  is  to  be  considered,  that  the  kings  of  England  having  The  prero- 
claimed  in  all  ages  a  power  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  equal  to  fi^kin^s 
what  the  Roman  emperors  had  in  that  empire,  they  exercised  of  England 

B  111   GCClGSl- 

this  authority  both  over  the  clergy  and  laity  :  and  did  at  first  asticai  af- 
erect  bishoprics,  grant  investitures  in  them,  call  synods,  make  fairs- 
laws,  about  sacred  as  well  as  civil  concerns ;  and,  in  a  word, 
they  governed  their  whole  kingdom.     Yet  when  the  bishops 
of  Rome  did  stretch  their  power  beyond  either  the  limits  of  it 
in  the  primitive  church,  or  what  was  afterward  granted  them 

31  Enough  has  been  observed  from  a  public  instrument,  drawn  up 
upon  these  two  pages  [pp.  107  and  and  attested  by  a  public  notary;  a 
129]  already;  otherwise  I  have  the  further  account  whereof  your  lord- 
proceedings  (a  copy)  of  this  convo-  ship  may  have,  if  it  be  of  any  use  to 
cation  or  synod,  an.  1533,  which  your  design.  [13.] 
Mr. Wharton  seems  to  place  in  1531, 


182  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

by  the  Roman  emperors,  and  came  to  assume  an  authority  in 
all  the   churches  of  Europe  ;    as  they  found  some  resistance 
every  where,  so  they  met  with  a  great  deal  in  this  kingdom  ; 
and  it  was  with  much  difficulty  that  they  gained  the  power  of 
giving  investitures,  receiving  appeals  to  Rome,  and  of  sending 
legates  to  England,  with  several  other  things,  which  were  long 
contested,  but  were  delivered  up  at  length,  either  by  feeble 
princes,  or  when  kings  were  so  engaged  at  home  or  abroad, 
that  it  was  not  safe  for  them  to  offend  the  clergy.     For  in  the 
first  contest  between  the  kings  and  the  popes,  the  clergy  were 
generally  on  the  pope's  side,  because  of  the  immunity  and  pro- 
The  en-       tection  they  enjoyed  from  that  see ;  but  when  popes  became 
yf°t^Cgimeilt  ambitious  and  warlike  princes,  then   new  projects  and  taxes 
pacy.  were  every  where  set  on  foot  to  raise  a  great  treasure.     The 

pall,  with  many  bulls  and  high  compositions  for  them,  annates, 
or  first-fruits  and  tenths,  were  the  standing  taxes  of  the  clergy, 
besides  many  new  ones  upon  emergent  occasions.  So  that  107 
they,  finding  themselves  thus  oppressed  by  the  popes,  fled 
again  back  to  the  crown  for  protection,  which  their  predeces- 
sors had  abandoned. 

From  the  days  of  Edward  the  First,  many  statutes  were 
made  to  restrain  the  exactions  of  Rome.  For  then  the 
popes,  not  satisfied  with  their  other  oppressions,  (which  a 
Mat.  Paris,  monk  of  that  time  lays  open  fully,  and  from  a  deep  sense 
-07  3&c'  °^  them,)  did  by  provisions,  bulls,  and  other  arts  of  that 
ed.  1640.]  see,  dispose  of  bishoprics,  abbeys,  and  lesser  benefices,  to 
The  laws     foreigners,  cardinals,  and  others  that  did  not  live  in  England. 

made  . 

against  Upon  which  the  commonalty  of  the  realm  did  represent  to  the 

]  ™'  king  in  parliament,  That  the   bishojyrics,   abbeys,  and  other' 

[cap.  1.  benefices  were  founded  by  the  kings  and  people  of  England, 

vol  \%'  to  inform  tae  people  of  the  law  of  God,  and  to  make  hospi- 

150.  ed.  tality,  alms,  and  other  works  of  charity,  for  which  end  they 

peated  hi  were  endoived  by  the  king  and  people  of  England ;  -and  that 

the  Statute  the  kinq,  and  his  other  subjects  who  endowed  them,  had  upon 

ofprovi-  .  ,  ,  ,        „      .  „    7  7  .   , 

sors,  25  Ed-  voidances  the  presentment  and  collations  of  them,  which  now 
vk<\  m  ^ie  P°Pe  hod  usurped  and  given  to  aliens,  by  ivhich  the  crown 
317.]  would  be  disinherited,  and  the  ends  of  their  endowments  de- 

stroyed, with  other  great  inconveniences.  Therefore  it  was 
ordained,  That  these  oppressions  should  not  be  suffered  in 
any  manner.     But,  notwithstanding  this,  the  abuse  went  on, 


book  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1531.)  183 

and  there  was  no  effectual  way  laid  down  in  the  act  to  punish 

these  transgressions.     The  court  of  Rome  was  not  so  easily 

driven  out  of  any  thing  that  either  increased  their  power  or 

their  profits;    therefore,    by  another  act  in   his   grandchild  25  Ed.  III. 

Edward  the  Third's  time,  the  commons  complained,  that  these  btn,u}te  of 

■*  piovisors. 

abuses  did  abound,  and  that  the  pope  did  daily  reserve  to  [ibid.  p. 
his  collation  church-preferments  in  England,  and  raised  the 
first-fruits,  with  other  great  profits,  by  which  the  treasure  of 
the  realm  was  carried  out  of  it,  and  many  clerks,  advanced 
in  the  realm,  were  put  out  of  their  benefices  by  those  provi- 
sors ;  therefore  the  king,  being  bound  by  oath  to  see  the  laius 
kept,  did,  with  the  assent  of  all  the  great  men  and  the  com- 
monalty of  the  realm,  ordain,  That  the  free  elections,  present- 
ments, and  collations  of  benefices,  slcotdd  stand  in  the  right 
of  the  crown,  or  of  any  of  his  subjects,  as  they  had  formerly 
enjoyed  them,  notivithstanding  any  provisions  from  Rome. 
And  if  any  did  disturb  the  incumbents  by  virtue  of  such  pro- 
visions, those  p>rovisors,  or  others  employed  by  them,  were  to 
be  put  in  prison  till  they  made  fine  and  ransom  to  the  king 
at  his  will ;  or  if  they  could  not  be  apprehended,  writs  were 
to  be  issued  out  to  seize  them,  and  all  benefices  possessed  by 
them  were  to  fall  into  the  king^s  hands,  except  they  were 
abbeys  or  jwiories,  that  fell  to  the  canons  or  colleges.  By 
another  act,  the  provisors  were  put  out  of  the  king's  protec- 
tion ;  and  if  any  man  offended  against  them,  in  person  or 
goods,  he  ivas  excused,  and  tvas  never  to  be  impeached  for  it. 
And  two  years  after  that,  upon  another  complaint  of  their  27  Edward 
suing  the  king's  subjects  in  other  courts,  or  beyond  sea,  it  was  nbi^CpP'  ' 
ordained,  That  any  who  sued,  either  beyond  sea,  or  in  any  329] 
other  court,  for  things  that  had  been  sued,  and  about  which 
judgment  had  been  given  informer  times  in  the  king's  courts, 
were  to  be  cited  to  answer  for  it  in  the  king's  courts  within 
two  months ;  and  if  they  came  not,  they  were  to  be  put  out  of 
the  king's  protection,  and  to  forfeit  their  lands,  goods,  and 
chattels  to  the  king,  and  to  be  imprisoned  and  ransomed  at 
the  king's  will.  Both  these  statutes  received  a  new  confirma-  38  Edward 
tion  eleven  years  after  that.  But  those  statutes  proved  ineffec-  pSjcap" '' 
108  tual ;  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Richard  the  Second,  385.] 

the  former  acts  were  confirmed  bv  another  statute,  and  an-  3  Rlcri»rd 

1  II.  cap.  3. 

pointed  to  be  executed:  and  not  only  the  provisors  themselves,  [ibid. vol. ii. 


184  THE   HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

p.  14.  ed.    but  all  such  as  took  procuratories.  letters  of  attorney,  or  farms 

l8l6.]  -  ,  •  1  !       •  ,  -|  A  1        •  1 

Tibid.  cap  *rom  uiem>  were  involved  in  the  same  guilt.  And  in  the 
>2-  p-3-t]  seventh  year  of  that  king,  provisions  were  made  against  aliens 
having  benefices  without  the  king's  license,  and  the  king  pro- 
mised to  abstain  from  granting  them  licenses  :  for  this  was 
another  artifice  of  the  Roman  court,  to  get  the  king  of  their 
side,  by  accepting  his  license,  which  by  this  act  was  restrained. 
This  failing,  they  betook  themselves  to  another  course,  which 
was,  to  prevail  with  the  incumbents  that  were  presented  in 
England  according  to  law,  to  take  provisions  for  their  benefices 
12  Richard  from  Rome,  to  confirm  their  titles.  This  was  also  forbidden 
[ibid. p.6o.']  under  the  former  pains.  As  for  the  rights  of  presentations, 
by  the  law  they  were  tried  and  judged  in  the  king's  courts, 
and  the  bishops  were  to  give  institution  according  to  the  title 
declared  in  these  judgments:  this  the  popes  had  a  mind  to 
draw  to  themselves,  and  to  have  all  titles  to  advowsons  tried 
in  their  courts  ;  and  bishops  were  excommunicated,  who  pro- 
ceeded in  this  matter  according  to  the  law.  Of  which  great 
16  Richard  complaint  was  made  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  the  reign  of 
[ibid.p.84.]  Richard  the  Second.  And  it  was  added  to  that,  that  the  pope 
intended  to  make  many  translations  of  bishops,  some  to  be 
within,  and  some  out  of  the  realm,  which,  among  other  incon- 
veniences reckoned  in  the  statute,  would  produce  this  effect : 
That  the  crown  of  England,  which  had  been  so  free  at  all 
times,  should  be  subjected  to  the  bishoj)  of  Rome,  and  the 
laws  and  statutes  of  the  realm  by  him  defeated  and  destroyed 
at  his  will.  They  also  found  those  things  to  be  against  the 
king's  crown  and  regality,  used  and  approved  in  the  time  of 
his  progenitors :  therefore  all  the  commons  resolved  to  live 
and  die  with  him  and  his  crown;  and  they  required  him,  by 
way  of  justice,  to  examine  all  the  lords,  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral, what  they  thought  of  those  things,  and  whether  they 
would  be  ivith  the  crown  to  uphold  the  regality  of  it  ?  To 
which  all  the  temporal  lords  ansivered,  they  would  be  with 
the  crown.  But  the  spiritual  lords,  being  asked,  said,  they 
[ibid.  p. 85.]  would,  neither  deny  nor  affirm  that  the  bishop  of  Rome  might, 
or  might  not,  excommunicate  bishops,  or  make  translations 
of  prelates :  but  upon  that  protestation,  they  said,  that  if 
such  things  were  done,  they  thought  it  ivas  against  the  crown ; 
and  said,  they  would  be  with  the  king,  as  they  were  bound 


book  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (15.31.)  185 

by  their  allegiance.  Whereupon  it  was  ordained,  that  if  any 
did  purchase  translations,  sentences  of  excommunication, 
bulls,  or  other  instruments  from  the  court  of  Rome,  against 
the  Icing  or  his  crown;  or  whosoever  brought  them  to  Eng- 
land, or  did  receive  or  execute  them;  they  were  out  of  the 
king's  protection,  and  that  they  should  forfeit  their  goods 
and  chattels  to  the  king,  and  their  persons  should  be  im- 
prisoned. And  because  the  proceedings  were  to  be  upon  a 
writ,  called  from  the  most  material  words  of  it,  praemunire 
facias,  this  was  called  the  statute  of  praemunire.  [ibid.p.86.] 

When  Henry  the  Fourth  had  treasonably  usurped  the 
crown,  all  the  bishops  (Carlisle  only  excepted)  did  assist  him  in 
it,  and  he  did  very  gratefully  oblige  them  again  in  other 
things  ;  yet  he  kept  up  the  force  of  the  former  statutes.  For 
the  Cistercian  order  having  procured  bulls,  discharging  them 
of  paying  tithes,  and  forbidding  them  to  let  their  farms  to  any, 
109  but   to  possess  them  themselves :    this  was  complained  of  in 

parliament  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  and  those  bulls  1  Hen.  IV. 

were  declared  to  be  of  no  force  ;    and  if  any  did  put  them  in  n^4' 

execution,  or  procured  other  such  bulls,  they  were  to  be  pro-  p-  I21-] 

ceeded  against  upon  the  statutes  made  in  the  thirteenth  year 

of  the  former  kings  reign  against  provisors.     But  all  this 

while,  though  they  made  laws  for  the  future,  yet  they  had  not 

the  courage  to  put  them  in  execution  :  and  this  feebleness  in 

the  government   made   them    so   much  despised,  and    so    oft 

broken ;    whereas   the   severe  execution  of  one    law,  in    one 

instance,  would  more  effectually  have  prevented  the  mischief, 

than  all  these  laws  did  without  execution.    In  the  sixth  year  of  6  Hen.  IV. 

his  reign,   complaints   being   made   of  the   excessive  rates    of  j^j1' 

compositions  for  archbishoprics  and  bishoprics  in  the  pope's  p.  148.] 

chamber,  which  ivere  raised  to  the  treble  of  what  had  been 

formerly  paid ;    it    was    enacted,   that  they  should  pay  no 

more    than   had   been  formerly  wont    to    be  paid.     In    the 

seventh  year  of  his  reign,  the  statute  made  in  the  second  year  7  Hen.  IV. 

was  confirmed ;    and  by  another  act,  the   licenses  which  the  j^j  '   ' 

king  had  granted  for  the  executing  any  of  the  pope's  bulls  are  1S^,  153d 

declared  of  no  force  to  prejudice  any  incumbent  in  his  right. 

Yet  the  abuses  and  encroachments  of  the  court  of  Rome  still  9  Hen.  IV. 

increasing,  all  former  statutes  against  provisors  were  confirmed  r^id. ' 

again,  and  all  elections  declared  free,  and  not  to  be  interrupted,  P-i6i.] 


186  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  l 

cither  by  the  pope  or  the  king :  but,  at  the  same  time,  the 

king  pardoned   all    the   former    transgressions   against   these 

statutes.     By   those  pardons  the  court    of  Rome    was   more 

encouraged  than  terrified  by  the  laws ;    therefore  there  was  a 

4  Henry  V.  necessity  of  making  another  law,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the 

[ibid.4         Fifth,  against  pro  visors,  that  the  incumbents  lawfully  invested 

P-  T93-l       in  their  livings  should  not  be  molested  by  them,  though  they 

had   the  king's  pardon ;    and  both  bulls  and  licenses  were 

declared  void  and  of  no  value ;  and  those  tvho  did  upon  such 

grounds  molest  them  should  incur  the  pains  of  the  statutes 

against  provisors. 

Our  kings  took  the  best  opportunity  that  ever  could  have 
been  found  to  depress  the  papal  power;   for  from  the  begin- 
ning of  Richard  the  Second's  reign,   till  the   fourth  year  of 
Henry  the  Fifth,  the  popedom   was  broken  by  a  long  and 
great  schism  ;  and  the  kingdoms  of  Europe  were  divided  in 
their  obedience  ;  some  holding  for  those  that  sat  at  Rome,  and 
others  for  the   popes  of  Avignon  :    England,  in  opposition  to 
France,  that  chiefly  supported  the  Avignon  popes,  did  adhere 
to  the   Roman  popes.     The   papacy  being  thus  divided,   the 
popes  were  as  much  at  the  mercy  of  kings  for  their  protection, 
as  kings  had  formerly  been  at  theirs ;  so  that  they  durst  not 
thunder  as  they  were  wont  to  do;  otherwise  this  kingdom  had 
certainly  been  put  under  excommunications  and  interdicts  for 
these  statutes,  as  had  been  clone  formerly  upon  less  provocations. 
[Letters  of       But  now  that  the  schism  was  healed,  pope  Martin  the  Fifth 
Martin  V.    began  to  reassume  the  spirit  of  his  predecessors,  and  sent  over 
to  the         threatening  messages  to  England,  in  the  beginning  of  Henry 
bishop.]       the  Sixth's  reign.     None  of  our  books  have  taken  any  notice 
Ex  MSS.     of  this  piece  of  our  history ;  the  manuscript  out  of  which  I 
draw  it  has  been  written  near  that  time,  and  contains  many  of 
the  letters  that  passed  between  Rome  and  England  upon  this 
occasion. 
Reg.  Chi-        The  first  letter  is  to  Henry  Chichely,  then  archbishop  of 
"D  '  Canterbury,  who  had  been  promoted  to  that  see  by  the  pope, 

but  had  made  no  opposition  to  the  statute  against  provisions  in  110 
the  fourth  year  of  Henry  the  Fifth ;  and  afterwards,  in  the 
eighth  year  of  his  reign,  when  the  pope  had  granted  a  provi- 
sion of  the  archbishopric  of  York  to  the  bishop  of  Lincoln,  the 
chapter    of  York   rejected    it,    and,   pursuant  to  the   former 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1531.)  187 

statute,  made  a  canonical  election.  Henry  the  Fifth  being 
then  the  greatest  king  in  Christendom,  the  pope  durst  not 
offend  him  :  so  the  law  took  place,  without  any  further  contra- 
diction, till  the  sixth  year  of  his  son's  reign,  that  England  was 
both  under  an  infant  king,  and  had  fallen  from  its  former 
greatness :  therefore  the  pope,  who  wTaited  for  a  good  con- 
juncture, laid  hold  on  this,  and  first  expostulated  severely  with 
the  archbishop  for  his  remissness,  that  he  had  not  stood  up 
more  for  the  right  of  St.  Peter  and  the  see  of  Rome,  that  had 
bestowed  on  him  the  primacy  of  England  ;  and  then  says 
many  things  against  the  statute  of  praemunire,  and  exhorts 
him  to  imitate  the  example  of  his  predecessor,  St.  Thomas  of 
Canterbury  the  martyr,  in  asserting  the  rights  of  the  church ; 
requiring  him,  under  the  pain  of  excommunication,  to  declare 
at  the  next  parliament  to  both  houses  the  unlawfulness  of  that 
statute,  and  that  all  were  under  excommunication  who  obeyed 
it.  But,  to  make  sure  work  among  the  people,  he  also  com- 
mands him  to  give  orders,  under  the  same  pains,  that  all  the 
clergy  of  England  should  preach  the  same  doctrine  to  the 
people.  This  bears  date  the  fifth  day  of  December  1 426,  and  Collect. 
will  be  found  in  the  Collection  of  papers.  um 

But  it  seems  the  pope  was  not  satisfied  with  his  answer  ;  for 
the  next  letter  in  that  MS.  is  yet  more  severe,  and  in  it  his 
legatine  power  is  suspended.  It  has  no  date  added  to  it ;  but 
the  paper  that  follows,  bearing  date  the  sixth  of  April  1427, 
leads  us  pretty  near  the  date  of  it.  It  contains  an  appeal  of 
the  archbishop's  from  the  pope's  sentence,  to  the  next  general 
council ;  or,  if  none  met,  to  the  tribunal  of  God  and  Jesus 
Christ. 

There  is  also  another  letter,  dated  the  sixth  of  May,  directed 
to  the  archbishop,  and  makes  mention  of  letters  written  to  the 
whole  clergy  to  the  same  purpose,  requiring  him  to  use  all  his 
endeavours  for  repealing  the  statute,  and  chides  him  severely 
because  he  had  said,  that  the  pope's  zeal  in  this  matter  was 
only  that  he  might  raise  much  money  out  of  England ;  which 
he  resents  as  an  high  injury,  and  protests  that  he  designed 
only  to  maintain  these  rights  that  Christ  himself  had  granted 
to  his  see,  which  the  holy  fathers,  the  councils,  and  the 
catholic  church  has  always  acknowledged.  If  this  does  not  look 
like  teaching  ex  cathedra,  it  is  left  to  the  reader's  judgment. 


188  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

But  the  next  letter"3-  is  of  an  higher  strain.  It  is  directed 
to  the  two  archbishops  only  ;  and,  it  seems,  in  despite  to 
Chichely,  the  archbishop  of  York  is  named  before  Canterbury. 
By  it  the  pope  annuls  the  statutes  made  by  Edward  the  Third 
and  Richard  the  Second,  and  commands  them  to  do  no  act  in 
pursuance  of  them  :  and  declares,  if  they,  or  any  other,  gave 
obedience  to  them,  they  were  ipso  facto  excommunicated,  and 
not  to  be  relaxed,  unless  at  the  point  of  death,  by  any  but  the 
pope.  He  charges  them  also  to  intimate  that  his  monitory 
letter  to  the  whole  nation,  and  cause  it  to  be  affixed  in  the 
several  places,  where  there  might  be  occasion  for  it.  This  is 
[1427.]  dated  the  eighth  of  December,  the  tenth  year  of  his  popedom. 
Then  follow  letters  from  the  university  of  Oxford,  the  arch- 
bishop of  York,  the  bishops  of  London,  Durham,  and  Lincoln,  111 
to  the  pope  ;  all  to  mitigate  his  displeasure  against  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  in  which  they  gave  him  the  highest 
testimony  possible,  bearing  date  the  tenth  and  the  twenty-fifth 
day  of  July.  These  the  archbishop  sent  by  an  express  to 
Rome,  and  wrote  the  humblest  submission  possible  to  the  pope  ; 
protesting  that  he  had  done,  and  would  do,  all  that  was  in  his 
power  for  repealing  these  statutes.  One  thing  in  this  letter  is 
remarkable :  he  says,  He  hears  the  pope  had  proceeded  to  a 
sentence  against  him,  which  had  never  been  done  from  the 
days  of  St.  Austin  to  that  time :  but  he  knew  that  only  by 
report,  for  he  had  not  opened,  much  less  read,  the  bulls  in 
ivhich  it  was  contained ;  being  commanded  by  the  king  to 
bring  them,  with  the  seals  entire,  and  lay  them  up  in  the 
paper-offi.ce,  till  the  parliament  was  brought  together. 
And  to  the  There  are  two  other  letters  to  the  king,  and  one  to  the 
parfiament.  parliament,  for  the  repeal  of  the  statute.     In  those  to  the  king 

Collect.       the  pope  writes,  that  he  had  often  pressed  both    kino-   and 
Numb.  38.  ,.      1  .  '  .      .  .  .       \      .  111 

parliament  to  it ;   and  that  the  king  had  answered,  that  he 

32  The  letter   dated   the   8th   of  Pius    the    Second     condemned    it 

December  should  have  been  men-  1549;    yet    it    was    used    by   the 

tioned  immediately  after  that  of  the  Venetians   1509,  and    by  the   uni- 

5th,  being  but  three  days  after  it,  versity  of  Paris,  March  27,  151 7. 

and  the  appeal  that  followed  should  [F.]      [This     letter     was     written 

have  been   set    down    after   it.     It  Dec.  18, 1427;  consequently  the  date 

were  also  fit  to  publish  the  appeal  in  the  text  should  have   been  the 

itself,  for  the  power  of  appealing  was  eleventh   year  instead  of  the  tenth 

a  point  much  controverted.     Pope  year  of  his  popedom.] 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1531.)  189 

could  not  repeal  it  without  the  parliament :  but  he  excepts  to 
that,  as  a  delaying  the  business,  and  shews  it  is  of  itself  unlaw- 
ful, and  that  the  king  was  under  excommunication  as  long  as 
he  kept  it;  therefore  he  expects,  that,  at  the  furthest,  in  the 
next  parliament  it  should  be  repealed.  It  bears  date  the 
thirteenth  of  October,  in  the  tenth  year  of  his  popedom.  In 
his  letter  to  the  parliament,  he  tells  them,  that  no  man  can  be  Collect, 
saved  who  is  for  the  observation  of  that  statute  :  therefore  he  um  " 39' 
requires  them  under  pain  of  damnation  to  repeal  it,  and  offers 
to  secure  them  from  any  abuses  which  might  have  crept  in 
formerly  with  these  provisions.  This  is  dated  the  third  of 
October,  decimo  pontificatus.  But  I  believe  it  is  an  error  of 
the  transcriber,  and  that  its  true  date  was  the  thirteenth  of 
October. 

The  parliament  sat  in  January  1427,  being  the  sixth  year  of  [Cotton's 
king  Henry  the   sixth;    during    which,   on   the   thirtieth    ofme"tg~ 
January,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  accompanied  by  the  fol-  587-I 
archbishop  of  York,  the  bishops  of  London,  St.  David's,  Ely, 
and  Norwich,  and   the  abbots   of  Westminster  and  Reading, 
went  from  the  house  of  lords  to  the  place  where  the  house  of 
commons  ordinarily  sat,  which  was  the  refectory  of  the  abbey 
of  Westminster,  where  the  archbishop  made  a  long  speech,  in 
the  form  of  a  sermon,  upon  that  text,  Render  to  Ccesar  the 
things  which  are  Ccesar's,  and  to  God  the  things  that  are 
God's.  He  began  with  a  protestation,  that  he  and  his  brethren 
intended  not  to  say  any  thing  that  might  derogate  from  the 
king,  the  crown,  or  the  people  of  England.     Then  he  alleged 
many  things  for  the  pope's  power  in  granting  provisions,  to 
prove  it  was  of  divine  right,  and  admonished  and  required  them 
to  give  the  pope  satisfaction  in  it,  otherwise  he  laid  out  to  them 
with  tears,  what  mischiefs  might  follow,  if  he  proceeded  to 
censures  ;  which  will  appear  more  fully  from  the  instrument,  Collect, 
that  will  be  found  in  the  Collection  at  the  end.     But,  it  seems,  Bu™to"  n°' 
the  parliament   would   do   nothing    for  all  this ;    for  no   act,  purpose, 
neither  of  repeal  nor  explanation,  was  passed. 

Yet  it  appears  the  pope  was  satisfied  with  the  archbishop's  [De  prae- 
carriage  in  this  matter ;    for  he  soon  after  restored  him  to  the  p^g8'^ 
exercise  of  his  legatine  power,  as  Godwin  has  it ;   only  he  by  a  1743d 
112  mistake  says,  he  was  made  legate  anno  1428,  whereas  it  was 
only  a  restitution  after  a  censure. 


190  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

The  clergy       Thus  stood  the  law  of  England  in  that  matter,  which  was 

themselves.  neither  repealed  nor  well  executed ;  for  the  pope's  usurpations 
still  increasing,  those  statutes  lay  dead  among  the  records,  and 
several  cardinals  had  procured  and  executed  a  legatine  power, 
which  was  clearly  contrary  to  them.  And  as  cardinal  Wolscy 
was  already  brought  under  the  lash  for  it,  so  it  was  now  made 
use  of;  partly  to  give  the  court  of  Rome  apprehensions  of 
what  they  were  to  expect  from  the  king,  if  they  went  on  to  use 
him  ill ;  and  partly,  to  proceed  severely  against  all  those  of  the 
clergy  who  adhered  obstinately  to  the  interests  of  that  court, 
and  to  make  the  rest  compound  the  matter,  both  by  a  full 
submission  and  a  considerable  subsidy.  It  was  in  vain  to 
pretend  it  was  a  public  and  allowed  error,  and  that  the  king 
had  not  only  connived  at  the  cardinal's  proceedings,  but  had 
made  him  all  that  while  his  chief  minister :  that  therefore  they 
were  excusable  in  submitting  to  an  authority  to  which  the  king 
gave  so  great  encouragement ;  and  that  if  they  had  done 
otherwise,  they  had  been  unavoidably  ruined.  For  to  all  this 
it  was  answered,  that  the  laws  were  still  in  force,  and  that 
their  ignorance  could  not  excuse  them,  since  they  ought  to 
have  known  the  law  ;  yet  since  the  violation  of  it  was  so  public, 
though  the  court  proceeded  to  a  sentence,  that  they  were  all 
out  of  the  king's  protection,  and  were  liable  to  the  pains  in  the 

Yet  they     statutes ;  the  king  was  willing,  upon  a  reasonable  composition, 

compoun   ,  an^  a  £uj|  submission,  to  pardon  them. 

So,  in  the  convocation  of  Canterbury,  a  petition  was  brought 

in  to  be  offered  to  the  king.     In  the  king's  title,  he  was  called, 

And  ac-       The  Protector  and  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church  and  Clergy 

knowledge  .  .  .  .'  ,  ,    . 

the  king      of  England,     lo  this  some  opposition  was  made,  and  it  was 

supreme      pU^.  0ff  £0  anot,her  day  ;  but,  by  the  interposition  of  Cromwell, 

the  church  and  others  of  the  king's  council,  who  came  to  the  convocation, 

Lordg an    an(^  usec^  arguments  to  persuade  them  to  it,  they  were  pie- 

Herbert.      vailed  with  to  pass  it  with  that  title,  at  least  none  speaking 

,J      against  it :  for  when  Warham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  said, 

That  silence  ivas  to  be  taken  for  consent,  they  cried :Jti  out, 

they  ivere  then  all  silent :  yet  it  was  moved  by  some  to  add 

these  words  to  the  title,  in  so  far  as  is  lawful  by  the  law  of 

Antiquit.     Christ.     But  Parker  says,  the  king  disliked  that  clause,  since 

invita        **  ^e^  ms  Power  still  disputable ;  therefore  it  was  cast  out,  and 

33  It  was  only  one :   Quidam  respondebat .     Jour.  Convoc.  [$•] 


book  u.]     .  THE  REFORMATION.     (1531.)  191 

the  petition   passed  simply  as  it  was  first  brought  in.     Yet  WarKam. 
in  that  he  was  certainly  misinformed  ;  for  when  the  convocation  ^J;  4  7'  ed- 
of  the  province  of  York  demurred  about  the  same  petition,  and 
sent  their  reasons  to  the  king,  why  they  could  not  acknowledge 
him  supreme  head,  which  (as  appears  by  the  king's  answer  to  Printed  in 
them)  were  chiefly  founded  on  this,  that  the  term  head  was  *heC*baj*- 
improper,  and  did  not  agree  to  any  under  Christ;  the  king  1691.] 
wrote  a  long  and  sharp  answer  to  them,  and  shewed  them, 
that  words  were  not  always  to  be  understood  in  their  strict 
sense,  but  according  to  the  common  acceptation.     And  among 
other  things,  he  shewed  what  an  explanation  was  made  in  the 
convocation  of  Canterbury,  that  it  was  in  so  far  as  was  agree- 
able to  the  lav)  of  Christ ;  by  which  it  appears,  that  at  that 
time  the  king  was  satisfied  to  have  it  pass  any  way,  and  so  it 
was  agreed  to  by  nine  bishops,  (the  bishop  of  Rochester  being 
one,)  and  fifty-two34  abbots  and  priors,  and  the  major  part  of 
the  lower  house  of  convocation  in  the  province  of  Canterbury. 
113  Of  which  number  it  is  very  probable  Reginald  Pole  was,  for  in 

his  book  to  the  king  he  says,  he  was  then  in  England;  and  [lib.  i.  p.  14. 
adds,  that  the  king  would  not  accept  of  the  sum  the  clergy  ec' T*55j 
offered,   unless   they   acknowledged   him    supreme   head :    he 
being  then  dean  of  Exeter35,  was  of  the  lower  house  of  convo- 
cation ;  and  it  is  not  likely  the  king  would  have  continued  the 
pensions,   and  other  church-preferments  he   had,    if  he    had 
refused  to  sign   that    petition    and   submission.     By  it    they 
prayed  the  king  to  accept  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  in 
lieu  of  all  punishments  which  they  had    incurred   by   going 
against  the   statutes  of  provisors,  and   did  promise   for    the 
future,  neither  to  make  nor  execute  any  constitution  without 
the  king's  license;    upon   which   he   granted  them  a  general  [May  4. 
pardon  :  and  the  convocation  of  the  province  of  York  offering  \^^y 
eighteen    thousand    eight   hundred   and   forty    pounds,    with  Cone. vol. 
another  submission  of  the  same  nature  afterwards,  though  that       '       '-" 
met  with  more  opposition,  they  were  also  pardoned. 

When  the  king's  pardon  for  the  clergy  was  brought  into  the  The  com- 
mons desire 

34  For  fifty-two  read  sixty-two.  have  been  one  of  the  lower  house  of 
In  the  lower  house  thirty-six  pre-  convocation,  which  doth  not  agree 
sent,  proxies  forty-eight.  In  all  with  the  conjecture,  p.  129,  that  the 
eighty-four.    [S.]  deans  at  that  time  sat  in  the  upper 

35  p0]ei  as  (jean  0f  Exeter,  is  said  to     house  of  convocation .    [F.] 


192  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part 

to  be  in-      house  of  commons,  they  were  much  troubled  to  find  themselves 
the  king's    not  included  within  it;  for  by  the  statutes  of  provisoes  many 
pardon.       0f  them  were  also  liable ;  and  they  apprehended,  that  either 
[p.  7^5.]      they  might  be  brought  in  trouble,  or  at  least  it  might  be  made 
use  of  to  draw  a  subsidy  from  them  :  so  they  sent  their  speaker, 
with  some  of  their  members,  to  represent  to  the  king  the  great 
grief  of  his  commons  to  find  themselves  out  of  his  favour, 
which  they  concluded  from  the  pardon  of  the  pains  of  praemu- 
nire to  his  spiritual  subjects,  in  which  they  were  not  included  ; 
and  therefore  prayed  the  king  that  they  might  be  compre- 
hended within   it.     But  the  king  answered  them,  that  they 
must  not  restrain  his  mercy,  nor  yet  force  it ;  it  was  free  to 
him' either  to  execute  or  mitigate  the  severity  of  the  law  :  that 
he  might  well  grant  his  pardon  by  his  great  seal  without  their 
assent,  but  he  would  be  well  advised  before  he  pardoned  them, 
because  he  would  not  seem  to  be  compelled  to  it.     So  they 
went  away,  and  the  house  was  in  some  trouble  :    many  blamed 
Cromwell,  who  was  growing  in  favour,  for  this  rough  answer  ; 
yet  the  king's  pardon  was  passed. 
Which  the       But  his  other  concerns  made  him  judge  it  very  unfit  to  send 
wards         away  his  parliament  discontented  ;    and  since  he  was  so  easy  to 
grants.        them  as  to  ask  no  subsidy,  he  had  no  mind  to  offend  them  ; 
and  therefore,  when  the  thing  was  over,  and  they  out  of  hopes 
of  it,  he  of  his  own  accord  sent  another  pardon  to  all  his  tem- 
poral subjects  of  their  transgressions  of  the  statutes  of  provisors 
and  praemunire;    which  they   received  with   great  joy,    and 
acknowledged  there  was  a  just  temperature  of  majesty  and 
clemency  in  the  king's  proceedings. 
°ne  During  this  session  of  parliament,  an  unheard-of  crime  was 

attainted 

for  poi-       committed  by  one  Richard  Rouse,  a  cook,  who  on  the  sixteenth 

somng.        Q£  x^eDruai.y  poisoned  a  vessel  of  yeast,  that  was  to  be  used  in 

porridge  in  the  bishop  of  Rochester's   kitchen,    with    which 

seventeen  persons  of  his  family  were  mortally  infected,  and  one 

of  the  gentlemen  died  of  it ;  and  some  poor  people,  that  were 

charitably  fed  with  the  remainder  of  it,  were  also  infected,  one 

22  Hen.      woman  dying.     The  person  was  apprehended,  and  by  act  of 

cap.  16.       parliament  poisoning  was  declared   treason,  and   Rouse  was 

[Statutes,    attainted,  and  sentenced  to  be  boiled  to  death,  which  was  to  be 

vol.  111. 

p.  338,  and  the  punishment  of  poisoning  for  all  times  to  come,  that  the 
0^26]  l    terror  of  this  unheard-of  punishment  might  strike  a  horror  in 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1531.)  193 

all  persons  at  such  an  unexampled  crime.     And  the  sentence  Hall. 
was  executed  in  Smithfield  soon  after.  LP- 7'  r'J 

Of  this  I  take  notice  the  rather  because  of  Sanders'  malice,  [Sanders, 
114  who  says,  this  Rouse  was  set  on  by  Anne  Boleyn,  to  make  p' 
away  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  of  which  there  is  nothing  on 
record,  nor  does  any  writer  of  that  time  so  much  as  insinuate 
it.  But  persons  that  are  set  on  to  commit  such  crimes,  are  usually 
either  conveyed  out  of  the  way,  or  secretly  despatched  ;  that 
they  may  not  be  brought  to  an  open  trial.  And  it  is  not  to  be 
imagined,  that  a  man  that  was  employed  by  them  that  might 
have  preferred  him,  and  found  himself  given  up  and  adjudged 
to  such  a  death,  would  not  have  published  their  names  who  set 
him  on,  to  have  lessened  his  own  guilt,  by  casting  the  load 
upon  them  that  had  both  employed  and  deserted  him.  But 
this  must  pass  among  the  many  other  vile  calumnies,  of  which 
Sanders  has  been  the  inventor,  or  publisher,  and  for  which  he 
had  already  answered  to  his  Judge. 

When  the  session  of  parliament  was  over,  the  king  continued  Lord 
to  ply  the  queen  with  all  the  applications  he  could  think  of,  to  Herbert, 
depart  from  her  appeal.     He  grew  very  melancholy,  and  used 
no  sort  of  diversion,  but  was  observed  to  be  very  pensive.    Yet 
nothing  could  prevail  with  the  queen.     She  answered  the  lords 
of  the  council,  when  they  pressed  her  much  to  it,  that  she 
prayed  God  to  send  the  king  a  quiet  conscience,  but  that  she 
was  his  lawful  wife,  and  ivould  abide  by  it  till  the  court  of 
Rome  declared  the  contrary.     Upon  which  the  king  forbore  to 
see  her,  or  to  receive  any  tokens  from  her,  and  sent  her  word,  The  king- 
to  choose  where  she  had  a  mind  to  live,  in  any  of  his  manors,  ^neen    ^ 
She  answered,  that  to  which  place  soever  she  were  removed, 
nothing  could  remove  her  from  being  his  wife.     Upon   this 
answer  the  king  left  her  at  Windsor  the  fourteenth  of  July, 
and  never  saw  her  more.     She  removed  first  to  Moor,  then  to 
Easthamstead,   and   at   last   to  Ampthill,    where   she   stayed 
longer. 

The  clergy  went  now  about  the  raising  of  the  hundred  thou-  A  disorder 
sand  pounds,  which  they  were  to  pay  in  five  years ;    and,  to  ^ong  \? e 
make  it  easier  to  themselves,  the  prelates  had  a  great  mind  to  London 
draw  in  the  inferior  clergy  to  bear  a  part  of  the  burden.     The  subsidy  ' 
bishop  of  London  called  a  meeting  of  some  priests  about  Lon-  Hall.  [p. 

BURNET,  PART  I.  O  ' 


194  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

don.  on  the  first  of  September,  to  the  chapter-house  at  St. 
Paul's :  he  designed  to  have  had  at  first  only  a  small  number, 
among  whom  he  hoped  it  would  easily  pass,  and  that  being 
done  by  a  few,  others  would  more  willingly  follow.  But  the 
matter  was  not  so  secretly  carried,  but  that  all  the  clergy 
about  the  city  hearing  of  it,  went  thither.  They  were  not  a 
little  encouraged  by  many  of  the  laity,  who  thought  it  no  un- 
pleasant diversion  to  see  the  clergy  fall  out  among  themselves. 
So  when  they  came  to  the  chapter-house  on  the  day  appointed, 
the  bishop's  officers  would  only  admit  some  few  to  enter ;  but 
the  rest  forced  the  door,  and  rushed  in,  and  the  bishop's  ser- 
vants were  beaten  and  ill  used.  But  the  bishop,  seeing  the 
tumult  was  such  that  it  could  not  be  easily  quieted,  told  them 
all,  That  as  the  state  of  men  in  this  life  was  frail,  so  the 
clergy,  through  frailty  and  want  of  wisdom,  had  misde- 
meaned  themselves  towards  the  king,  and  had  fallen  in  a 
praemunire,  for  which  the  king  of  his  great  clemency  ivas 
pleased  to  pardon  them,  and  to  accept  of  a  little,  instead  of 
the  whole,  of  their  benefices,  which  by  the  law  had  fallen  into 
his  hand  :  therefore  he  desired  they  woidd  patiently  bear 
their  share  in  this  burden.  But  they  answered,  they  had 
never  meddled  with  any  of  the  cardinal's  faculties,  and  so  had 
not  fallen  in  the  praemunire ;  and  that  their  livings  were  so 
small,  that  they  could  hardly  subsist  by  them.  Therefore, 
since  the  bishops  and  abbots  were  only  guilty,  and  had  good 
preferments,  they  only  ought  to  be  punished,  and  pay  the  tax ;  115 
but  that  for  themselves,  they  needed  not  the  king's  pardon, 
and  so  would  pay  nothing  for  it.  Upon  which  the  bishop's 
officers  threatened  them ;  but  they,  on  the  other  hand,  (being 
encouraged  by  some  laymen  that  came  along  with  them,)  per- 
sisted in  their  denial  to  pay  any  thing ;  so  that  from  high 
words  the  matter  came  to  blows,  and  several  of  the  bishop's 
servants  were  ill  handled  by  them.  But  he,  to  prevent  a 
further  tumult,  apprehending  it  might  end  upon  himself,  gave 
them  good  words ;  and  dismissed  the  meeting  with  his  blessing, 
and  promised  that  nothing  should  be  brought  in  question  that 
[ibid.  was  then  done.     Yet  he  was  not  so  good  as  his  word ;  for  he 

complained  of  it  to  the  lord  chancellor,  who  was  always  a  great 
favourer  of  the  clergy  ;  by  whose  order  fifteen  priests  and  five 


p.  784.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1531.)  195 

laymen  were  committed  to  several  prisons :  but  whether  the 
inferior  clergy  payed  their  proportion  of  the  tax,  or  not,  I 
have  not  been  able  to  discover. 

This  year  the  state  of  affairs  beyond  sea  changed  very  con-  The  pope 
siderably.     The  pope  expected  not  only  to  recover  Florence  ^/^.gnch 
to  his  family  by  the  emperor's  means,  but  also  to  wrest  Modena  faction. 
and  Reggio  from  the  duke  of  Ferrara,  to  which  he  pretended, 
as  being  fiefs  of  the  papacy  ;  and  the  emperor  having  engaged 
by  the  former  treaty  to  restore  them  to  him.     But  now  that 
the  pope's  pretensions  were  appointed  to  be  examined  by  some 
judges  delegated  by  the  emperor,  they  determined  against  the 
pope  for  the  duke  of  Ferrara :  which  so  disgusted  the  pope, 
that  he  fell  totally  from  the  emperor,  and  did  unite  with  the 
king  of  France,  a  match  being   also  projected   between   the 
duke  of  Orleans,  (afterwards  Henry  the  Second,)  and  his  niece 
Catharine  de  Medici ;  which  did  work  much  on  the  pope's  am- 
bition, to  have  his  family  allied  to  so  mighty  a  monarch.     So 
that  now  he  became  wholly  French. 

The  French  king  was  also,  on  account  of  this  marriage,  to  A  match 
resign  all  the  pretensions  he  had  to  any  territory  in  Italy  to  bg°^gen 
his  younger  son ;  which,  as  it  would  give  less  umbrage  to  the  the  pope's 
other  princes  of  Italy,   who   liked  rather  to  have  a   king's  the  duke  of 
younger  son  among  them,  than  either  the  emperor,   or  the  Orleans. 
French  king ;   so  the  pope  was  wonderfully  pleased  to  raise 
another  great  prince  in  Italy  out  of  his  own  family.     On  these 
grounds  was  the  match  at  this  time  designed,  which  afterwards 
took   effect;    but  with  this  difference,  that  by  the   dauphin's 
death  the  duke  of  Orleans  became  king  of  France,  and   his 
queen  made  the  greatest  figure  that  any  queen  of  France  had 
done  for  many  ages. 

This  change  in  the  pope's  mind  might  have  produced  an- 
other in  the  king's  affairs,  if  he  had  not  already  gone  so  far, 
that  he  was  less  in  fear  of  the  pope  than  formerly.  He  found 
the  credit  of  his  clergy  was  so  low,  that  to  preserve  themselves 
from  the  contempt  and  fury  of  the  people,  they  were  forced  to 
depend  wholly  on  the  crown.  For  Lutheranism  was  then 
making  a  great  progress  in  England,  of  which  I  shall  say 
nothing  here,  being  resolved  at  the  end  of  this  book  to  give  an 
account  of  the  whole  course  of  it  in  those  years  that  fall  within 
this  time.     But  what  by  the  means  of  the  new  preachers,  what 

O  2, 


196  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  l 

by  the  scandals  cast  on  the  clergy,  they  were  all  at  the  king's 
mercy  ;  so  he  did  not  fear  much  from  them,  especially  in  the 
southern  parts,  which  were  the  richest  and  best  peopled  :  there- 
fore the  king  went  on  resolutely.  The  pope,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  in  great  perplexity  ;  he  saw  England  ready  to  be 
lost,  and  knew  not  what  to  do  to  rescue  or  preserve  it.  If  he 
gave  way  to  what  was  lately  done  in  the  business  of  the  prce- 116 
munire,  he  must  thereby  lose  the  greatest  advantages  he  drew 
from  that  nation  ;  and  it  was  not  likely,  that,  after  the  king 
had  gone  so  far,  he  would  undo  what  was  done. 
The  empe-  The  emperor  was  more  remiss  in  prosecuting  the  queen's 
gaged  in  a  aj>peal  at  Rome ;  for  at  that  time  the  Turk,  with  a  most 
war  with  numerous  and  powerful  army,  was  making  an  impression  on 
Hungary,  (which,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  most  Christian 
king,  was  imputed  to  his  councils  and  presents  at  the  Port ;) 
and  all  the  emperor's  thoughts  were  taken  up  with  this.  There- 
fore, as  he  gave  the  protestant  princes  of  Germany  some  pre- 
sent satisfaction  in  religion  and  other  matters ;  so  he  sent  over 
to  England,  and  desired  the  king's  assistance  against  that  vast 
army  of  three  hundred  thousand  men  that  was  falling  in  upon 
Christendom.  To  this  the  king  made  a  general  answer,  that 
gave  some  hopes  of  assisting  him.  But  at  the  same  time  the 
protestant  princes,  resolving  to  draw  some  advantage  from  that 
conjuncture  of  affairs,  and  being  courted  by  the  French  king, 
entered  into  a  league  with  him,  for  the  defence  of  the  rights 
of  the  empire.  And,  to  make  this  firmer,  the  king  was  invited 
by  the  French  king  to  join  in  it ;  to  which  he  consented,  and 
sent  over  to  France  a  sum  of  money,  to  be  employed  for  the 
safety  of  the  empire.  And  this  provoked  the  emperor  to  re- 
new his  endeavours  in  the  court  of  Rome  for  prosecuting  the 
queen's  appeal. 

The  French  king  encouraged  the  king  to  go  on  with  his 
divorce,  that  he  might  totally  alienate  him  from  the  emperor. 
The  French  writers  also  had  another  consideration,  which 
seems  unworthy  of  so  great  a  king,  that  he  himself,  being  at 
that  time  so  public  a  courtier  of  ladies,  was  not  ill  pleased  to 
set  forward  a  thing  of  that  nature.  "  But  though  princes 
"  allow  themselves  their  pleasures,  yet  they  seldom  govern 
"  their  affairs  by  such  maxims." 
1532.         In  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  a  new  session  of  parlia- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1532.)  197 

ment  was  held,  in  which  the  house  of  commons  went  on  to  [Feb.  4.] 
complain  of  many  other  grievances  they  lay  under  from  the  The  Parlia" 

r  u  a  «/        «/  ment  com- 

clergy,  which  they  put  in  a  writing,  and  presented  it  to  the  plains  of 
king.    In  it  they  complained  of  the  proceedings  in  the  spiritual  sia^t1caie 
courts,  and  especially  their  calling  men  before  them  ex  officio,  courts. 
and  laying  articles  to  their  charge,  without  any  accuser  ;  and 
then  admitting  no  purgation,  but  causing  the  party  accused, 
either  to  abjure,  or  to  be  burnt ;  which  they  found  very  griev-  Hall.  [p. 
ous  and  intolerable.     This  was  occasioned  by  some  violent  pro-  7  4'^ 
ceeding  against  some  reputed   heretics,  of  which  an  account 
shall  be  given  afterwards.     But  those  complaints  were  stifled, 
and  great  misunderstandings  arose  between  the  king  and  the 
house  of  commons  upon  this  following  occasion. 

There  was  a  common  practice  in  England  of  mens  making  But  reject 
such  settlements  of  their  estates  by  their  last  wills,  or  other  ^J.^3, 
deeds,  that  the  king  and  some  great  lords  were  thereby  de- 
frauded of  the  advantages  they  made  by  wards,  marriages, 
and  primer  seisin.     For  regulating  which,  a  bill  was  brought 
into  the  house  of  peers,  and  assented  to  there  ;  but  when  it  was 
sent  down  to  the  house  of  commons,  it  was  rejected  by  them, 
and  they  would  neither  pass  the  bill,  nor  any  other  qualifica- 
tion of  that  abuse.     This  gave  the  king  great  offence  ;  and  the 
house,  when  they  addressed  to  him  about  the  proceedings  of 
the  clergy,  also  prayed,  That  he  would  consider  what  cost,  The  com- 
117  charge,  and  pains  they  had  been  at  since  the  beginning  of  the  ™™  that1 
parliament,  and  that  it  would  please  his  grace  of  his  princely  they  may 
benignity  to  dissolve  his  court  of  parliament,  and  that  his  ed. 
subjects  might  return  into  their  countries.    To  which  the  king 
answered,  "  That  for  their  complaints  of  the  clergy,  lie  must  The  king's 
"  hear  them  also  before  he  could  give  judgment,  since  in  jus-  answer- 
"  tice  he  ought  to  hear  both  parties ;  but  that  their  desiring 
"  the  redress  of  such  abuses,  was  contrary  to  the  other  part  of 
"  their  petition ;    for  if  the  parliament  were   dissolved,  how 
"  could  those  things  they  complained  of  be  amended  ?     And 
"  as  they  complained  of  their  long  attendance,  so  the  king 
"  had  stayed  as  long  as  they  had  done,  and  yet  he  had  still 
"  patience,  and  so  they  must  have,  otherwise  their  grievances 
"  would  be  without  redress.     But  he  did  expostulate  severely 
"  upon  their  rejecting  the  bill  about  deeds,  in  prejudice  of  the 
"  rights  of  the  crown.     He  said,  he  had  offered  them  a  great 


198  THE   HISTORY  OF  [par'j 

"  mitigation  of  what  by  the  rigour  of  the  law  he  might  pre- 
"  tend  to  ;  and,  if  they  would  not  accept  of  it,  he  would  try 
"  the  utmost  severity  that  the  law  allowed,  and  would  not 
"  offer  them  such  a  favour  again."  Yet  all  this  did  not  pre- 
vail ;  for  the  act  was  rejected,  and  their  complaint  against  the 

[April  10.    clergy  was-  also  laid  aside,  and  the  parliament  was  prorogued 

^8-  j  p'       till  April  next. 

In  this  parliament  the  foundation  of  the  breach  that  after- 
wards followed  with  Rome  was  laid,  by  an  act  for  restraining 
the  payment  of  annates  to  that  court ;  which,  since  it  is  not 

Collect.       printed  with  the  other  statutes,   shall  be  found  in  the   end 

An  act        °f  this  volume.     The  substance  of  it  is  as  follows  : 

against  «  That  great  sums  of  money  had  been  conveyed  out  of  the 

annates.  .  .  °  .  ",  "  . 

"  kingdom,  under  the  title  of  annates  or  first-fruits  to  the 

"  court  of  Rome,  which  they  extorted  by  restraint  of  bulls, 

"  and  other  writs ;   that  it  happened  often,  by  the  frequent 

"  deaths  of  archbishops  and    bishops,  to  turn  to   the    utter 

"  undoing  of  their   friends,   who    had  advanced    those  sums 

"  for  them.     These  annates  were  founded  on  no  law  ;  for  they 

"  had  no  other  way  of  obliging  the  incumbents  of  sees  to  pay 

"  them,  but  by  restraining  their  bulls.     The  parliament  there- 

"  fore,   considering  that  these   were  first  begun  to    be    paid 

"  to  defend  Christendom  against  infidels,  but  were  now  turned 

"  to   a  duty   claimed   by   that    court,    against   all  right   and 

"  conscience,  and  that  vast  sums  were  carried  away  upon  that 

"  account,  which,  from   the  second  year  of  king  Henry  the 

"  Seventh  to  that  present  time,  amounted  to  eight  hundred 

"  thousand  ducats,  besides  many  other  heavy  exactions  of  that 

"  court ;  did  declare,  that  the  king  was  bound  by  his  duty  to 

"  Almighty  God,  as  a  good  Christian  prince,  to  hinder  these 

"  oppressions.     And  that   the  rather,    because  many  of  the 

"  prelates  were  then  very  aged,  and  like  to  die  in  a  short  time, 

"  whereby  vast  sums  of  money  should  be  carried  out  of  Eng- 

"  land,  to   the   great   impoverishing  of  the    kingdom.     And 

"  therefore  all  payments  of  first-fruits  to  the  court  of  Rome 

"  were  put  down,  and  for  ever  restrained,   under  the  pains 

"  of  the  forfeiture  of  the  lands,  goods,  and  chattels  of  him  that 

"  should  pay  them  any  more,  together  with  the  profits  of  his 

"  see,  during  the  time  that  he  was  vested  with  it.     And  in 

"  case  bulls  were  restrained  in  the  court  of  Rome,  any  person 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1532.)  199 

"  presented  to  a  bishopric  should  be  notwithstanding  consecrated 
"  by  the  archbishop  of  the  province ;  or  if  he  were  presented 
"  to  an  archbishopric,  by  any  two  bishops  in  the  kingdom, 
"  whom  the  king  should  appoint  for  that  end ;  and  that,  being 
118  "  so  consecrated,  they  should  be  invested,  and  enjoy  all  the 
"  rights  of  their  sees  in  full  and  ample  manner ;  yet,  that  the 
"  pope  and  court  of  Rome  might  have  no  just  cause  of  com- 
"  plaint,  the  persons  presented  to  bishoprics  are  allowed  to 
"  pay  them  five  pounds  for  the  hundred,  of  the  clear  profits 
"  and  revenues  of  their  several  sees.  But  the  parliament,  not 
"  willing  to  go  to  extremities,  remitted  the  final  ordering  of 
"  that  act  to  the  king,  that  if  the  pope  would  either  charitably 
"  and  reasonably  put  down  the  payment  of  annates,  or  so 
"  moderate  them  that  they  might  be  a  tolerable  burden,  the 
"  king  might  at  any  time  before  Easter  1533,  or  before  the 
"  next  session  of  parliament,  declare  by  his  letters  patents, 
"  whether  the  premisses,  or  any  part  of  them,  should  be 
"  observed  or  not,  which  should  give  them  the  full  force  and 
"  authority  of  a  law.  And  that  if  upon  this  act  the  pope 
"  should  vex  the  king,  or  any  of  his  subjects,  by  excommunica- 
"  tions  or  other  censures,  these  notAvithstanding,  the  king 
"  should  cause  the  sacraments,  and  other  rites  of  the  church, 
"  to  be  administered,  and  that  none  of  these  censures  might  be 
"  published  or  executed." 

This  bill  began  in  the  house  of  lords  ;  from  them  it  was  sent  Pari.  Rolls 
to  the  commons,  and  being  agreed  to  by  them,  received  the  \?Jt  ,0en' 
royal  assent,  but  had  not  that  final  confirmation  mentioned  in  vo1-  i»- 
the  act  before  the  ninth  of  July  1533;  and  then  by  letters1*'4 
patents  (in  which  the  act  is  at  length  recited)  it   was  con- 
firmed. 

But  now  I  come  to  open  the  final  conclusion  of  the  king's  The  P°Pe 
suit  at  Rome.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  January  "  the  pope  the  king 
"  wrote  to  the  kino-    that  he  heard  reports,  which  he  very  about  ,tne 

.  .  queens 

"  unwillingly  believed,  that  he  had  put  away  his  queen,  and  appeal. 

"  kept  one  Anne  about  him  as  his  wife  ;  which  as  it  gave  much     fg^T*' 

"  scandal,  so  it  was  an  high  contempt  of  the  apostolic  see,  to  do 

"  such  a  thing  while  his  suit  was  still  depending,  notwithstand- 

u  ing  a  prohibition  to    the    contrary.     Therefore    the    pope. 

"  remembering  his  former  merits,   which   were   now  like    to 

"  be  clouded  with  his  present  carriage,  did  exhort  him  to  take 


200  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

"  home  his  queen,  and  to  put  Anne  away  ;  and  not  to  continue 
"  to  provoke  the  emperor  and  his  brother  by  so  high  an 
"  indignity,  nor  to  break  the  general  peace  of  Christendom, 
"  which  was  its  only  security  against  the  power  of  the  Turk." 
What  answer  the  king  made  to  this.  I  do  not  find ;  but,  instead 
of  that,  I  shall  set  down  the  substance  of  a  despatch,  which  the 
king  sent  to  Rome  about  this  time,  drawn  from  a  copy  of  it ; 
to  which  the  date  is  not  added.  But  it  being  an  answer  to  a 
letter  he  received  from  the  pope  the  seventh  of  October, 
it  seems  to  have  been  written  about  this  time  ;  and  it  conclud- 
ing with  a  credence  to  an  ambassador,  I  judge  it  was  sent 
Lord  by  doctor  Bennet,  who  was  despatched  to  Rome  in  January 

Herbert.  15325  to  shew  the  pope  the  opinions  of  learned  men,  and  of  the 
Collect.  universities,  with  their  reasons.  The  letter  will  be  found 
um  ' 42'  in  the  end  of  this  volume ;  the  contents  of  it  are  to  this 
purpose : 
A  despatch  "  The  pope  had  writ  to  the  king,  in  order  to  the  clearing  all 
to  the  ing  "  n^s  scruples,  and  to  give  him  quiet  in  his  conscience ;  of 
pope.  «  which  the  king  takes  notice,  and  is  sorry  that  both  the  pope 

"  and  himself  were  so  deceived  in  that  matter  ;  the  pope,  by 
"  trusting  to  the  judgments  of  others,  and  writing  whatever 
"  they  suggested  ;  and  the  king,  by  depending  so  much  on 
"  the  pope,  and  in  vain  expecting  remedy  from  him  so  long. 
"  He  imputes  the  mistakes  that  were  in  the  pope's  letters  119 
"  (which,  he  says,  had  things  in  them  contrary  both  to  God's 
"  law,  and  man's  law)  to  the  ignorance  and  rashness  of  his 
"  counsellors :  for  which  himself  was  much  to  be  blamed, 
"  since  he  rested  on  their  advice ;  and  that  he  had  not  carried 
"  himself  as  became  Christ's  vicar,  but  had  dealt  both  un- 
"  constantly  and  deceitfully  :  for  when  the  king's  cause  was 
"  first  opened  to  him,  and  all  things  that  related  to  it  were 
"  explained,  he  had  granted  a  commission,  with  a  promise  not 
"  to  recal  it,  but  to  confirm  the  sentence  which  the  legates 
"  should  give  :  and  a  decretal  was  sent  over,  defining  the 
"  cause.  If  these  were  justly  granted,  it  was  injustice  to 
"  revoke  them  ;  but  if  they  were  justly  revoked,  it  was  unjust 
"  to  grant  them.  So  he  presses  the  pope,  that  either  he  could 
"  grant  these  things,  or  he  could  not ;  if  he  could  do  it,  where 
"  was  the  faith  which  became  a  friend,  much  more  a  pope, 
"■  since  he  had  broke  these  promises  ?    But  if  he  said,  he  could 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1532.)  201 

"  not  do  them,  had  he  not  then  just  cause  to  distrust  all  that 
"  came  from  him,  when  at  one  time  he  condemned  what  he 
"  had  allowed  at  another  ?  So  that  the  king  saw  clearly  he  did 
"  not  consider  the  ease  of  his  conscience,  but  other  worldly 
"  respects ;  that  had  put  him  on  consulting  so  many  learned 
"  men,  whose  judgments  differed  much  from  those  few  that 
"  were  about  the  pope,  who  thought  the  prohibition  of  such 
"  marriages  was  only  positive,  and  might  be  dispensed  with  by 
"  the  pope  :  whereas  all  other  learned  men  thought  the  law 
"  was  moral  and  indispensable.  He  perceived  the  apostolic 
"  see  was  destitute  of  that  learning,  by  which  it  should  be 
"  directed :  and  the  pope  had  oft  professed  his  own  ignorance, 
"  and  that  he  spake  by  other  men's  mouths :  but  many  uni- 
"  versities  in  England,  France,  and  Italy,  had  declared  the 
"  marriage  unlawful,  and  the  dispensation  null.  None  honoured 
"  the  apostolic  see  more  than  he  had  done,  and  therefore 
"  he  was  sorry  to  write  such  things,  if  he  could  have  been 
ff  silent.  If  he  should  obey  the  pope's  letters,  he  would  offend 
"  God  and  his  own  conscience,  and  give  scandal  to  those  who 
"  condemned  his  marriage  :  he  did  not  willingly  dissent  from 
"  him  without  a  very  urgent  cause,  that  he  might  not  seem  to 
"  despise  the  apostolic  see ;  therefore  he  desired  the  pope 
"  would  forgive  the  freedom  that  he  used,  since  it  was  the 
"  truth  that  drew  it  from  him.  And  he  added,  that  he 
"  intended  not  to  impugn  the  pope's  authority  further,  except 
"  he  compelled  him ;  and  what  he  did  was  only  to  bring  it 
"  within  its  first  and  ancient  limits,  to  which  it  was  better 
"  to  reduce  it,  than  to  let  it  always  run  on  headlong  and 
"  do  amiss ;  therefore  he  desired  the  pope  would  conform 
"  himself  to  the  opinions  of  so  many  learned  men,  and  do  his 
"  duty  and  office."  The  letter  ends  with  a  credence  to  the 
ambassador. 

The  pope,  seeing  his  authority  was  declining  in  England, 
resolved  now  to  do  all  he  could  to  recover  it,  either  by  force  or 
treaty  :  and  so  ordered  a  citation  to  be  made  of  the  king  to 
appear  in  person,  or  by  proxy,  at  Rome,  to  answer  to  the 
queen's  appeal :  upon  which  sir  Edward  Carne  was  sent  to  Sir  Edward 
Rome,  with  a  new  character  of  excusator.  "  His  instructions  ^Rome"* 
"  were,  to  take  the  best  counsel  for  pleading  an  excuse  of  the 
ff  king's  appearance  at  Rome.     First,  upon  the  grounds  that 


202  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

"  might  be  found  in  the  canon  law  ;  and  those  being  not  suffi- 
"  cient,  he  was  to  insist  on  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown  of  120 
"  England."     Doctor   Bonner   went    with  him,  who   had    ex- 
pressed much  zeal  in  the  king's  cause,  though  his  great  zeal 
was  for  preferment,  which  by  the  most  servile  ways  he  always 
courted.     He  was  a  forward  bold  man  ;    and  since  there  were 
many  threatenings  to  be  used  to  the  pope  and  cardinals,  he 
was   thought   fittest   for    the    employment,    but    was   neither 
learned  nor  discreet. 
His  nego-        They  came  to  Rome36  in  March,  where  they  found  great 
there"        heats  in  the  consistory  about  the  king's  business.     The  impe- 
taken  from  rialists  pressed  the  pope  to  proceed,  but  all  the  wise  and  in- 

the  original    ..„  T.      .  „  ,  •t*ii  1 

letters.        different  cardinals  were  ot   another  mind.     And  when  they 
v^m  ^r    ullderstood  what  an  act  was  passed  about  annates,  they  saw 
xiii.  [fol.      clearly,  that  the  parliament  was  resolved  to  adhere  to  the  king 
17  '  sqq"-'    in  every  thing  he  intended  to  do  against  their  interests.     The 
pope  expostulated  with  the  ambassadors  about  it ;    but  they 
told  him,  the  act  was  still  in  the  king's  power ;  and  except  he 
provoked  him,  he  did  not  intend  to  put  it  in  execution.     The 
ambassadors,  finding  the  cardinal  of  Ravenna  of  so  great  repu- 
tation, both  for  learning  and  virtue,  that  in  all  matters  of  that 
kind  his  opinion  was  heard  as  an  oracle,  and  gave  law  to  the 
whole  consistory  ;    they  resolved  to  gain  him  by  all  means 
possible.     And  doctor  Bennet  made  a  secret  address  to  him, 
and  offered  him  what  bishopric  either  in  France  or  England 
he  would  desire,  if  he  would  bring  the  king's  matter  to  a  good 
issue.     He  was  at  first  very  shy :   at  length  he  said,  he  had 
been  oft  deceived  by  many  princes,  who  had  made  him  great 
promises,  but,  when  their  business  was  ended,  never  thought 
of  performing  them  ;  therefore  he  would  be  sure  :  and  so  drave 
a  bargain,  and  got  under  doctor  Bennet's  hand  a  promise,  (of 
which  a  copy  being  sent  to  the  king,  written  by  Bennet  him- 
self, will  be  found  at  the  end  of  this  volume,)  bearing,  that  he, 
having  powers  from  the  king  for  that  effect,  dated  the  twenty- 
The  cardi-  ninth  of  December  last,  did  promise  the  cardinal,  for  his  help 
venna  cor-  m  the  king's  affair,  monasteries,  or  other  benefices  in  France,  to 

rupted  by 

Collect  36    These   sent    by   the   king   to  eight,  as    it  is  there  said.     These, 

Numb/43.   ^ome'  came  thither  in  February,  not  with  other  small  circumstances,  ap- 

in  March ;  and  the  articles  they  put  pear  from  a  book  then  printed   of 

in  were  twenty-seven,  not  twenty-  these  disputes.  [F.] 


book  ii.].  THE  REFORMATION.     (1552.)  203 

the  value  of  six  thousand  ducats  a  year,  and  the  first  bishopric  , 
that  fell  vacant  in  England  ;  and  if  it  were  not  Ely,  that  when- 
ever that  see  was  vacant,  upon  his  resigning  the  other,-  he 
should  be  provided  with  the  bishopric  of  Ely  :  dated  at  Rome 
the  seventh  of  February,  1532.  This  I  set  down  as  one  of  the 
most  considerable  arguments  that  could  be  used  to  satisfy  the 
cardinal's  conscience  about  the  justice  of  the  king's  cause. 
This  cardinal  was  the  fittest  to  work  secretly  for  the  king,  for 
he  had  appeared  visibly  against  him.  I  find  also,  by  other 
letters,  that  both  the  cardinals  of  Ancona  and  Monte  (after- 
wards pope  Julius  the  Third)  were  prevailed  with  by  argu- 
ments of  the  same  nature,  though  I  cannot  find  out  what  the 
bargains  were.  Providellus,  that  was  accounted  the  greatest 
canonist  in  Italy,  was  brought  from  Bologna,  and  entertained 
by  the  ambassadors,  to  give  counsel  in  the  king's  cause,  and  to 
plead  his  excuse  from  appearing  at  Rome.  The  plea  was 
summed  up  in  twenty-eight  articles,  which  were  offered  to  the 
pope ;  and  he  admitted  them  to  be  examined  in  the  consistory, 
appointing  three  of  them  to  be  opened  at  a  session.  But  the 
imperialists  opposed  that,  and,  after  fifteen  of  them  had  been 
heard,  procured  a  new  order,  that  they  should  be  heard  in  a  Collect. 
congregation  of  cardinals  before  the  pope ;  pretending  that  a  Numb-  44- 
121  consistory  sitting  but  once  a  week,  and  having  a  great  deal  of 
other  business,  it  would  be  long;  before  the  matter  could  be 
brought  to  any  issue.  So  Carne  was  served  with  a  new  order 
to  appear  in  the  congregation  the  third  of  April,  with  this  cer- 
tification, that  if  he  appeared  not,  they  would  proceed.  Upon 
which  he  protested,  that  he  would  adhere  to  the  former  order : 
yet  being  warned  the  second  time,  he  went  first  and  protested 
against  it,  which  he  got  entered  in  the  datary.  This  being 
considered  in  the  congregation,  they  renewed  the  order  of 
hearing  it  in  the  consistory  on  the  tenth  of  April,  and  then 
Providellus  opened  three  conclusions.  Two  of  them  related  to 
Carne's  powers ;  the  third  was  concerning  the  safety  of  the 
place  to  both  parties.  But  the  imperialists,  and  the  queen's 
counsel,  being  dissatisfied  with  this  order,  would  not  appear. 
Upon  which  Carne  complained  of  their  contumacy,  and  said, 
by  that  it  was  visible  they  were  distrustful  of  their  cause.  On 
the  fourteenth  of  April  a  new  intimation  was  made  to  Carne, 
to  appear  on  the  seventeenth  with  his  advocates,  to  open  all 


204 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[part  I. 


Collect. 
Numb.  45. 


[Herbert, 
P.  364.] 


A  bull  for 
erecting 
new  bi- 
shoprics. 


the  rest  of  the  conclusions  ;  but  he,  according  to  the  first  order, 
would  only  plead  to  three  of  them,  and  selected  the  nineteenth, 
twentieth,  and  twenty-first :  (what  these  related  to  I  find  not.) 
Upon  which  Providellus  pleaded,  and  answered  the  objections 
that  did  seem  to  militate  against  them ;  but  neither  would  the 
imperialists  appear  that  session. 

In  June,  news  were  brought  to  Rome,  which  gave  the  pope 
great  offence :  a  priest  had  preached  for  the  pope's  authority 
in  England,  and  was  for  that  cast  into  prison.  And  another 
priest,  being  put  in  prison  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
upon  suspicion  of  heresy,  had  appealed  to  the  king  as  the 
supreme  head :  upon  which  he  was  taken  out  of  the  arch- 
bishop's hands,  and  being  examined  in  the  king's  courts,  was 
set  at  liberty.  This  the  pope  resented  much  ;  but  the  am- 
bassadors said,  all  such  things  might  have  been  prevented,  if 
the  king  had  got  justice  at  the  pope's  hands. 

The  king  also  at  this  time  desired  a  bull  for  a  commission  to 
erect  six  new  bishoprics,  to  be  endowed  by  monasteries  that 
were  to  be  suppressed.  This  was  expedited  and  sent  away  at 
this  time  :  and  the  old  cardinal  of  Ravenna  was  so  jealous,  that 
the  ambassadors  were  forced  to  promise  him  the  bishopric  of 
Chester,  (one  of  the  new  bishoprics,)  with  which  he  was  well 
satisfied,  having  seen,  by  a  particular  state  of  the  endowment 
that  was  designed  for  it,  what  advantage  it  would  yield  him. 
But  he  had  declared  himself  so  openly  before  against  the  rea- 
sons for  the  excuse,  that  he  could  not  serve  the  king  in  that 
matter  ;  but  in  the  main  cause  he  undertook  to  do  great  ser- 
vice, and  so  did  the  cardinals  de  Monte  and  Ancona. 

Upon  the  twenty-seventh  of  June  the  debate  was  brought 
to  a  conclusion  about  the  plea  excusatory ;  and,  when  it  was 
expected  that  the  pope  should  have  given  sentence  against  the 
articles,  he  admitted  them  all,  si  et  prout  de  jure.  Upon 
which  the  imperialists  made  great  complaints :  the  cardinals 
grew  weary  of  the  length  of  the  debate,  since  it  took  up  all 
their  time ;  but  it  was  told  them,  the  matter  was  of  great  im- 
portance, and  it  had  been  better  for  them  not  to  have  pro- 
ceeded so  precipitately  at  first,  which  had  now  brought  them 
into  this  trouble,  and  that  the  king  had  been  at  much  pains 
and  trouble  on  their  account ;  therefore  it  was  unreasonable 
for  them  to  complain,  who  were  put  to  no  other  trouble,  but 


bookn.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1532.)  205 

to  sit  in  their  chairs  two  or  three  hours  in  a  week  to  hear  the 
122  king's  defences.  The  imperialists  had  also  occasioned  the 
delays,  though  they  complained  of  them,  by  their  cavils,  and 
allegations  of  laws,  and  decisions  that  never  were  made,  by 
which  much  time  was  spent.  But  it  was  objected,  that  the 
king's  excuse  for  not  coming  to  Rome,  because  it  was  too  re- 
mote from  his  kingdom,  and  not  safe,  was  of  no  force,  since 
the  place  was  safe  to  his  proxy.  And  the  cardinal  Ravenna 
pressed  the  ambassadors  much  to  move  the  king,  instead  of  the 
excusatory  process,  to  send  a  proxy  for  examining  and  dis- 
cussing the  merits  of  the  cause,  in  which  it  would  be  much 
easier  to  advance  the  king's  matter  ;  and  that  he,  having  ap- 
peared against  the  king  in  this  process,  would  be  the  less  sus- 
pected in  the  other. 

The  business  being  further  considered  in  three  sessions  of  The  pope 
the  consistory,  it  was  resolved,   that,  since  the  vacation  was  king  would 
coming  on,  they  would  neither  allow  of,  nor  reject  the  king's  submit  to 
excusatory  plea ;  but  the  pope  and  college  of  cardinals  would  Collect. 
write  to  the  king,  entreating  him  to  send  a  proxy  forjudging  Numb-46- 
the  cause  against  the  winter.     And  with  this,  Bonner  was  sent 
over,  with  instructions  from  the  cardinals  that  were  gained  to 
the  king,  to  represent  to  him,  that  his  excusatory  plea  could 
not  be  admitted ;  for  since  the  debate  was  to  be,  whether  the 
pope  could  grant  the  dispensation  or  not,  it  could  not  be  com- 
mitted to  legates,  but  must  be  judged  by  the  pope  and  the 
consistory.     He  was  also  ordered  to  assure  the  king,  that  the 
pope  did  now  lean  so  much  to  the  French   faction,  that  he 
needed  not  fear  to  refer  the  matter  to  him. 

But  while  these  things  were  in  debate  at  Rome,  there  was  A  session 
another  session  of  parliament  in  April ;  and  then  the  king  sent  ^enT^ 
for  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons,  and  gave  him  the  [April  10.] 
answer  which  the  clergy  had  drawn  to  the   addresses  they 
made  in  the  former  session  about  their  courts.     The  king  him- 
self seemed  not  at  all  pleased  with  it ;  but  what  the  house  did 
in  it  does  not  appear,  further  than  that  they  were   no  way 
satisfied  with    it.      But   there    happened  another  thing  that 
offended  the  king  much  :  one  Themse  of  the  house  of  commons  One  moves 
moved,  that  they  should  address  to   the  king,  to   bring   the  £!!j.+£?g" 
queen  back  to  the  court ;  and  ran  out  upon  the  inconveniences  queen  to 
that  were  like  to  follow,  if  the  queen  were  put  away,  particu-  [Herbert, 

p-  363] 


206  THE  HISTORY  OF  LPA«T  *• 

larly  the  ill  consequence  of  the  illegitimation  of  the  princess. 

At  which     Upon  this,  the  king  took  occasion  (when  he  gave  them   the 

the  king  is     /  v  «    ,  ,  j  i 

offended,     clergy  s  answer)  to  tell  them,  that  he  wondered  at  that  motion 

made  in  their  house,  for  the  matter  was  not  to  be  determined 
there.     It  touched  his  soul ;    he   wished   his   marriage  were 
good,  but  the  doctors  and  learned  men  had  determined  it  to 
be  null  and  detestable ;  and  therefore  he  was  obliged  in  con- 
science to  abstain  from  her,  which   he  assured  them   flowed 
from  no  lust  or  foolish  appetite.     He  was  then  forty-one  years 
old,  and  at  that  age  those  heats  abq^te.     But,  except  in  Spain 
or  Portugal,  it  had  not  been  heard  of,  that  a  man  married  two 
sisters  ;    and  that  he  never   heard,   that  any  Christian  man 
before  himself  had  married  his  brother's  wife :   therefore  ho 
assured  them  his  conscience  was  troubled,  which  he  desired 
[Hall,  p.     them  to  report  to  the  house.     In  this  session,  the  lord  chan- 
cellor came  down  to  the  commons,  with  many  of  the  nobility 
about  him,  and  told  them,  the  king  had  considered  the  marches 
between  England  and  Scotland,  which  were  uninhabited  on  the 
English  side,  but  well  peopled  on  the  Scottish ;  and  that  laid 
England  open  to  the  incursion  of  the  Scots:  therefore  the  king  123 
intended  to  build  houses  there,  for  planting  the  English  side. 
This  the  lords  liked  very  well :  and  thought  it  convenient  to 
give  the  king  some  aids  for  the  charges  of  so  necessary  a  work, 
and  therefore  desired  the  commons  to  consult  about  it.     Upon 
A  subsidy    which  the  house  voted  a  subsidy  of  a  fifteenth  :  but,  before 
the  bill  could  be  finished,  the  plague  broke  out  in  London,  and 
the  parliament  was  prorogued  till  February  following.    On  the 
The  king     eleventh  of  May  (three  days  before  the  prorogation)  the  king 
oathswhich  sen^  f°r  ^ne  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons,  and  told  him, 
the  clergy   «  That  he  found,  upon  inquiry,  that  all  the  prelates,  whom  he 
considered  "  had  looked  on  as  wholly  his  subjects,  were  but  half  subjects  ; 
by  the  com-  «  for  a^  their  consecration  they  swore  an  oath  quite  contrary 

mons.  "  . 

[Herbert,  "  to  the  oath  they  swore  to  the  crown  ;  so  that  it  seemed  they 
P-  3»3-]  <e  were  the  p0pe's  subjects  rather  than  his.  Which  he  referred 
"  to  their  care,  that  such  order  might  be  taken  in  it,  that  the 
"  king  might  not  be  deluded."  Upon  which  the  two  oaths 
that  the  clergy  swore  to  the  king  and  the  pope  were  read  in  the 
house  of  commons  ;  but  the  consequence  of  them  will  be  better 
understood  by  setting  them  down. 


book  ii.]  THE    REFORMATION.    (1532.)  207 

The  oath  to  the  pope. 
"  I  John,  bishop  or  abbot  of  A.  from  this  hour  forward  shall  Their  oath 
"  be  faithful  and  obedient  to  St.  Peter,  and  to  the  holy  church  p^J^6- 
"  of  Rome,  and  to  my  lord  the  pope,  and  his  successors,  canoni-  788-] 
"  cally  entering.  I  shall  not  be  of  counsel  nor  consent,  that 
"  they  shall  lose  either  life  or  member,  or  shall  be  taken,  or 
"  suffer  any  violence,  or  any  wrong  by  any  means.  Their 
"  counsel  to  me  credited  by  them,  their  messengers  or  letters, 
"  I  shall  not  willingly  discover  to  any  person.  The  papacy  of 
"  Rome,  the  rules  of  the  holy  fathers,  and  the  regality  of  St. 
"  Peter,  I  shall  help  and  maintain,  and  defend  against  all  men. 
"  The  legate  of  the  see  apostolic  going  and  coming,  I  shall 
"  honourably  entreat.  The  rights,  honours,  privileges,  author- 
"  ities  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  of  the  pope  and  his  succes- 
"  sors,  I  shall  cause  to  be  conserved,  defended,  augmented, 
"  and  promoted.  I  shall  not  be  in  council,  treaty,  or  any  act, 
"  in  the  which  any  thing  shall  be  imagined  against  him,  or  the 
"  church  of  Rome,  their  rights,  seats,  honours,  or  powers. 
"  And  if  I  know  any  such  to  be  moved  or  compassed,  I  shall 
"  resist  it  to  my  power,  and,  as  soon  as  I  can,  I  shall  advertise 
"  him,  or  such  as  may  give  him  knowledge.  The  rules  of  the 
"  holy  fathers,  the  decrees,  ordinances,  sentences,  dispositions, 
"  reservations,  provisions,  and  commandments  apostolic,  to  my 
"  power  I  shall  keep,  and  cause  to  be  kept  of  others.  Heretics, 
"  schismatics,  and  rebels  to  our  holy  father  and  his  successors, 
"  I  shall  resist  and  ;37  persecute  to  my  power.  I  shall  come  to 
"  the  synod  when  I  am  called,  except  I  be  letted  by  a  canonical 
"  impediment.  The  thresholds  of  the  apostles  I  shall  visit 
"  yearly  personally,  or  by  my  deputy.  I  shall  not  alienate  or 
"  sell  my  possessions  without  the  pope's  counsel.  So  God  me 
"  help  and  the  holy  evangelists." 

The  oath  to  the  king. 
124      "  I  John,  bishop  of  A.  utterly  renounce,  and  clearly  forsake  Their  oath 
"  all  such  clauses,  words,  sentences  and  prants,  which  I  have,  *o  the  king. 

a  '  '  [Hall,  p. 

"  or  shall  have  hereafter  of  the  pope's  holiness,  of  and  for  the  788.] 
"  bishopric  of  A.  that  in  any  wise  hath  been,  is,  or  hereafter 
"  may  be  hurtful  or  prejudicial  to  your  highness,  your  heirs, 
37  Prosequar  et  impugnabo  in  orig. 


208 


THE    HISTORY    OF 


[> 


Bib.  Cott. 
Cleop.  E.vi. 
fol.  54. 


More  laid 
down  his 
office. 
[Herbert, 
P-  37I-] 


[Sept.  1. 
Herbert, 
P-  367] 


"  successors,  dignity,  privilege,  or  estate  royal.  And  also  I 
"  do  swear,  that  I  shall  be  faithful  and  true,  and  faith  and 
"  truth  I  shall  bear  to  you  my  sovereign  lord,  and  to  your 
"  heirs,  kings  of  the  same,  of  life  and  limb,  and  earthly  worship 
"  above  all  creatures,  for  to  live  and  die  with  you  and  yours 
"  against  all  people.  And  diligently  I  shall  be  attendant  to  all 
"  your  needs  and  business,  after  my  wit  and  power,  and  your 
"  counsel  I  shall  keep  and  hold,  knowledging  myself  to  hold 
"  my  bishopric  of  you  only,  beseeching  you  of  restitution  of  the 
"  temporalities  of  the  same,  promising  as  before,  that  I  shall 
"  be  a  faithful,  true,  and  obedient  subject  to  your  said  high- 
"  ness,  heirs,  and  successors,  during  my  life  ;  and  the  services 
"  and  other  things  due  to  your  highness  for  the  restitution 
"  of  the  temporalities  of  the  same  bishopric,  I  shall  truly  do, 
"  and  obediently  perform.  So  God  me  help  and  all  saints." 
In  the  original,  it  is  only,  So  help  me  God,  and  these  holy 
evangelists. 

The  contradiction  that  was  in  these  was  so  visible,  that  it 
had  soon  produced  a  severe  censure  from  the  house,  if  the 
plague  had  not  hindered  both  that,  and  the  bill  of  subsidy. 
So  on  the  fourteenth  of  May  the  parliament  was  prorogued. 
Two  days  after,  sir  Thomas  More,  lord  chancellor,  having  oft 
desired  leave  to  deliver  up  the  great  seal,  and  be  discharged 
of  his  office,  obtained  it ;  and  sir  Thomas  Audley  was  made 
lord  chancellor.  More  had  carried  that  dignity  with  great 
temper,  and  lost  it  with  much  joy.  He  saw  now  how  far  the 
king's  designs  went ;  and  though  he  was  for  cutting  off  the 
illegal  jurisdiction  which  the  popes  exercised  in  England,  and 
therefore  went  cheerfully  along  with  the  suit  of  prcemunire ; 
yet  when  he  saw  a  total  rupture  like  to  follow,  he  excused 
himself,  and  retired  from  business  with  a  greatness  of  mind, 
that  was  equal  to  what  the  ancient  philosophers  pretended  in 
such  cases.  He  also  disliked  Anne  Boleyn,  and  was  prosecuted 
by  her  father,  who  studied  to  fasten  some  criminal  imputations 
on  him  about  the  discharge  of  his  employment ;  but  his  in- 
tegrity had  been  such,  that  nothing  could  be  found  to  blemish 
his  reputation. 

In  September  following,  the  king  created  Anne  Boleyn 
marchioness  of  Pembroke,  to  bring  her  by  degrees  up  to  the 
height  for  which  he  had  designed  her.     And  in  October  he 


jookh.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1532.)  209 

passed  the  seas,  and  had  an  interview  with  the  French  king ;  An  inter- 
where  all  the  most  obliging  compliments  that  were  possible  ^jYench 
passed  on  both  sides  with  great  magnificence,  and  a  firm  union  king. 
was  concerted  about  all  their  affairs.  They  published  a  league 
that  they  made,  to  raise  a  mighty  army  next  year  against  the 
Turk  ;  but  this  was  not  much  considered,  it  being  generally 
believed  that  the  French  king  and  the  Turk  were  in  a  good 
correspondence.  As  for  the  matter  of  the  king's  divorce, 
Francis  encouraged  him  to  go  on  in  it,  and  in  his  intended 
125  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn ;  promising,  if  it  were  questioned, 
to  assist  him  in  it :  and  as  for  his  appearance  at  Rome,  as  it 
was  certain  he  could  not  go  thither  in  person,  so  it  was  not  fit 
to  trust  the  secrets  of  his  conscience  to  a  proxy.  The  French 
king  seemed  also  resolved  to  stop  the  payments  of  annates, 
and  other  exactions  of  the  court  of  Rome  ;  and  said,  he  would 
send  an  ambassador  to  the  pope,  to  ask. redress  of  these,  and 
to  protest,  that  if  it  were  not  granted,  they  would  seek  other 
remedies  by  provincial  councils  :  and  since  there  was  an  inter- 
view designed  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor  at  Bologna 
in  December,  the  French  king  was  to  send  two  cardinals  thither 
to  procure  judges  for  ending  the  business  in  England.  There 
was  also-  an  interview  proposed  between  the  pope  and  the 
French  king  at  Nice  or  Avignon.  To  this  the  king  of  Eng- 
land had  some  inclinations  to  go  for  ending  all  differences,  if 
the  pope  were  well  disposed  to  it. 

Upon  this  sir  Thomas  Eliot  was  sent  to  Rome  with  answer  Eliot  sent 
to  a  message  the  pope  had  sent  to  the  king,  from  Avhose  in-  ^th  in- 
structions  both  the  substance  of  the  message  and  of  the  answer  structions. 
may  be  gathered.     "The  pope  had  offered  to  the  king,  that,  vit.  B. 
"  if  he  would  name  any  indifferent  place  out  of  his  own  king-  xu*-  ffol- 
"  dom,  he  would  send  a  legate  and  two  auditors  of  the  Rota 
"  thither,  to  form  the  process,  reserving  only  the  sentence  to 
"  himself.     The  pope  also  proposed  a  truce  of  three  or  four 
"  years,  and  promised  that  in  that  time  he  would  call  a  general 
a  council.     For  this  message  the  king  sent  the  pope  thanks ; 
"  but  for  the  peace,  he  could  receive  no  propositions  about  it, 
"  without  the  concurrence  of  the  French  king  ;  and  though  ho 
"  did  not  doubt  the  justice  of  a  general  council,  yet,  consider- 
"  ing  the  state  of  the  emperor's  affairs  at  that  time  with  the 
"  Lutherans,  he  did  not  think  it  was  then  seasonable  to  call  ono. 

BURNKT,  PART  I.  P 


210  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

"  That  as  for  sending  a  proxy  to  Rome,  if  he  were  a  private 
"  person,  he  could  do  it ;  but  it  was  a  part  of  the  prerogative 
"  of  his  crown,  and  of  the  privileges  of  his  subjects,  that  all 
"  matrimonial  causes  should  be  originally  judged  within  his 
"  kingdom  by  the  English  church,  which  was  consonant  to  the 
"  general  councils  and  customs  of  the  ancient  church,  where- 
"  unto  he  hoped  the  pope  would  have  regard :  and  that  for 
"  keeping  up  his  royal  authority,  to  which  he  was  bound  by 
"  oath,  he  could  not,  without  the  consent  of  the  realm,  submit 
"  himself  to  a  foreign  jurisdiction ;  hoping  the  pope  would  not 
"  desire  any  violation  of  the  immunities  of  the  realm,  or  to 
"  bring  these  into  public  contention,  which  had  been  hitherto 
"  enjoyed  without  intrusion  or  molestation.  The  pope  had 
"  confessed,  that,  without  an  urgent  cause,  the  dispensation 
"  could  not  be  granted.  This  the  king  laid  hold  on,  and 
"  ordered  his  ambassador  to  shew  him  that  there  was  no  war, 
"  nor  appearance  of  any,  between  England  and  Spain,  when  it 
"  was  granted.  To  verify  that,  he  sent  an  attested  copy  of 
"  the  treaty  between  his  father  and  the  crown  of  Spain  at  that 
"  time :  by  the  words  of  which  it  appeared,  that  it  was  then 
"  taken  for  granted  that  prince  Arthur  had  consummated  the 
"  marriage,  which  was  also  proved  by  good  witnesses.  In  fine, 
"  since  the  thing  did  so  much  concern  the  peace  of  the  realm 
"  it  was  fitter  to  judge  it  within  the  kingdom  than  any  where 
"  else  ;  therefore  he  desired  the  pope  would  remit  the  discuss- 
"  ing  of  it  to  the  church  of  England,  and  then  confirm  the 
11  sentence  they  should  give.  To  the  obtaining  of  this  the 
"  ambassador  was  to  use  all  possible  diligence  ;  yet  if  he  found 
"  real  intentions  in  the  pope  to  satisfy  the  king,  he  was  not  to 
"  insist  on  that  as  the  king's  final  resolution  :  and  to  let  the  126 
"  cardinal  of  Ravenna  see  that  the  king  intended  to  make  good 
"  what  was  promised  in  his  name,  the  bishopric  of  Coventry 
"  and  Lichfield  falling  vacant,  he  sent  him  the  offer  of  it,  with 
"  a  promise  of  the  bishopric  of  Ely  when  it  should  be  void." 
The  king  Soon  after  this  he  married  Anne  Boleyn,  on  the  fourteenth 
AnnTBo-    of  November,  upon  his  landing  in  England;  but  Stow3?  says, 

37  Stow  is  in  the  right;  for  in  a  in  June  from  Croydon  [June  17, 

letter  of  Cranmer's    to    Hawkins,  1533],  he  wrote:    Queen  Anne  was 

[Letter  xiv.  p.  246.]  then  the  king's  married  much  about  St.  Paul's  day 

ambassador  with  the  emperor,  dated  last,  as  the  condition  thereof  doth 


booivij.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  2]1 

without  any  ground  that  it  was  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  January,  leyn  Nov. 
Rowland  Lee  (who  afterwards  got  the  bishopric  of  Coventry  and  *4'  "y ?w' 
Lichfield)  did  officiate  in  the  marriage.     It  was  done  secretly,  in  Cooper  so, 
the  presence  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  and  her  father,  her  mother,  Holinshed, 
and  brother,  and  Dr.  Cranmer38.     The   grounds   on   which  [p- 929- ed- 
the  king  did  this  were,  that  his  former  marriage  being  of  itself  Sanders  [p. 
null,  there  was  no  need  of  a  declarative  sentence,  after  so  many  .62;j  tHer" 
universities  and  doctors  had  given  their  judgments  against  it.  368.'] 
Soon  after  the  marriage,  she  was  with  child,  which  was  looked 
on  as  a  signal  evidence  of  her  chastity,  and  that  she  had  till 
then  kept  the  king  at  a  due  distance. 

But  when  the  pope  and  the  emperor  met  at  Bologna,  the  An  inter- 
pope  expressed  great  inclinations  to  favour  the  French  king,  tween  the 
from  which  the  emperor  could  not  remove  him,  nor  engage  pope  and 
him  to  accept  of  a  match  for  his  niece,  Catharine  de  Medici,  mperor 
with  Francis  Sforza,  duke  of  Milan.     But  the  pope  promised 
him  all  that  he  desired  as  to  the  king  of  England  ;  and  so  that 
matter  was  still  carried  on.     Dr.  Bennet  made  several  propo-  Some  over- 
sitions  to  end  the  matter;  either  that  it  should  be  judged  in  *uref.about 

0   m  °  the  divorce. 

England,  according  to  the  decree  of  the  council  of  Nice,  and  Lord  Her- 
that  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  the  whole  clergy  of  ej£\  ^' 
his  province,  should  determine  it ;    or,  that  the  king  should 

well  appear,  by  reason  she  is  now  which  was  plainly  false ;  for  I  my- 

somewhat  big  with  child.  [S.]  self  knew  not  thereof  a  fortnight 

38    If  Cranmer  was    present   at  after  it  was  clone.    And  many  other 

Anne  Boleyn's  marriage,  which  was  things  be  reported  of  me,  which  be 

certainly    in    November,   Warham  mere  lies  and  tales.  [S.] 
having  died  in  August  before,  he         S9  [Cooper's  Chronicle,  contein- 

could  not  have  delayed  his  coming  inge  the  whole  discourse  of  the  his- 

to   England    six   months.      Antiq.  tories  as  well  of  this  realme  as  all 

Britan.  says   he   followed  the  em-  other  countreis,  with  the  succession 

peror  to  Spain;   but  Sleidan  says  of  their  kynges,  the  time  of  their 

that  the  emperor  went  no  further  raigne,  and  what  notable  actes  were 

than  Mantua  this  year,  and  sailed  done  by  them,  newly  enlarged  and 

to  Spain  in  March  following ;   and  augmented,  as  well  in  the  first  part 

Cranmer  would   not  go   then  with  with  divers  profitable  histories,  as 

him,  for  he  was  consecrated,  not  on  in  the  latter  ende  with  the  whole 

the  thirteenth  of  March,  which  is  summe  of  those  thinges  that  Paulus 

an  error,  but  on   the   thirtieth   of  Jouius  and   Sleidane  hath  written 

March.  [F.]  of  late  yeres,  that  is,  from  the  be- 

Cranmer  was  not  present  at  the  ginnyng  of  kyng  Henrie  the  eightes 

marriage,  for  in  the  same  letter  he  raigne  unto  the  late  death  of  Queene 

writes  :    Notwithstanding    it    hath  Marie,  by  me  Thomas  Cooper,  Lon- 

been  reported   throughout  a  great  dini.  8vo.  1560.] 


part  of  the  realm  that  I  married  her ; 


P  2 


O[0 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I, 


[Herbert, 
p.  364.] 


1533. 

A  session 
of  parlia- 
ment. 
[Ibid.  p. 
3/2.] 
An  act 
against 
appeals  to 
Rome.  24 
Hen.  VIII, 
act.  22. 
[cap.  12. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii.  p. 
427-] 


name  one,  either  sir  Thomas  More  or  the  bishop  of  London, 
the  queen  should  name  another,  the  French  king  should  name 
a  third,  and  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  be  the  fourth ; 
or,  that  the  cause  should  be  heard  in  England ;  and  if  the 
queen  did  appeal,  it  should  be  referred  to  three  delegates,  one 
of  England,  another  of  France,  and  a  third  to  be  sent  from 
Rome,  who  should  sit  and  judge  the  appeal  in  some  indifferent 
place.  But  the  pope  would  hearken  to  none  of  these  over- 
tures, since  they  were  all  directly  contrary  to  that  height  of 
authority  which  he  resolved  to  maintain  :,  therefore  he  ordered 
Capisucci,  the  dean  of  the  Rota,  to  cite  the  king  to  answer  to 
the  queen's  appeal.  Carne,  at  Rome,  protested  against  the 
citation,  since  the  emperor's  power  was  so  great  about  Rome, 
that  the  king  could  not  expect  justice  there ;  and  therefore 
desired  they  would  desist,  otherwise  the  king  would  appeal  to 
the  learned  men  in  universities ;  and  said,  there  was  a  nullity 
in  all  their  proceedings,  since  the  king  was  a  sovereign  prince, 
and  the  church  of  England  a  free  church,  over  which  the  pope 
had  no  just  authority. 

But  while  this  depended  at  Rome,  another  session  of  parlia- 
ment was  held  in  England,  which  began  to  sit  on  the  fourth  of 
February.  In  this  the  breach  with  Rome  was  much  forwarded 
by  the  act  they  passed  against  all  appeals  to  Rome.  "  The 
"  preamble  bears,  That  the  crown  of  England  was  imperial, 
"  and  that  the  nation  was  a  complete  body  within  itself,  with 
"  a  full  power  to  give  justice  in  all  cases,  spiritual  as  well  as 
"  temporal ;  and  that  in  the  spirituality,  as  there  had  been  at 
"  all  times,  so  there  were  then,  men  of  that  sufficiency  and 
"  integrity,  that  they  might  declare  and  determine  all  doubts 
"  within  the  kingdom  ;  and  that  several  kings,  as  Edward  the  127 
"  First,  Edward  the  Third,  Richard  the  Second,  and  Henry 
"  the  Fourth,  had,  by  several  laws,  preserved  the  liberties  of 
"  the  realm,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  from  the  annoyance 
"  of  the  see  of  Rome,  and  other  foreign  potentates ;  yet  many 
"  inconveniences  had  risen  by  appeals  to  the  see  of  Rome  in 
"  causes  of  matrimony,  divorces,  and  other  cases,  which  were 
"  not  sufficiently  provided  against  by  these  laws ;  by  which, 
"  not  only  the  king  and  his  subjects  were  put  to  groat  charges, 
"  but  justice  was  much  delayed  by  appeals,  and  Rome  being 
"  at  such  a  distance,  evidences  could  not  be  brought  thither. 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1.533.)  213 

"  nor  witnesses,  so  easily  as  within  the  kingdom :  therefore  it 
u  was  enacted,  that  all  such  causes,  whether  relating  to  the 
"  king,  or  any  of  his  subjects,  were  to  be  determined  within 
"  the  kingdom,  in  the  several  courts  to  which  they  belonged, 
"  notwithstanding  any  appeals  to  Rome,  or  inhibitions  and 
"  bulls  from  Rome ;  whose  sentences  should  take  effect,  and 
"  be  fully  executed  by  all  inferior  ministers :  and  if  any  spirit- 
"  ual  persons  refused  to  execute  them  because  of  censures 
"  from  Rome,  they  were  to  suffer  a  year's  imprisonment,  and 
"  fine  and  ransom  at  the  king's  will ;  and  if  any  persons  in  the 
"  king's  dominions  procured  or  executed  any  process  or  cen- 
"  sures  from  Rome,  they  were  declared  liable  to  the  pains  in 
"  the  statute  of  provisors,  in  the  sixteenth  of  Richard  the 
"  Second.  But  that  appeals  should  only  be  from  the  arch- 
"  deacon  or  his  official  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  or  his  com- 
"  missary,  and  from  him  to  the  archbishop  of  the  province,  or 
"  the  dean  of  the  arches,  where  the  final  determination  was  to 
11  be  made  without  any  further  process ;  and  in  every  process 
"  concerning  the  king,  or  his  heirs  and  successors,  an  appeal 
' c  should  lie  to  the  upper  house  of  convocation,  where  it  should 
"  be  finally  determined,  never  to  be  again  called  in  question.'"' 

As  this  bill  passed,  the  sense  of  both  houses  of  parliament 
about  the  king's  marriage  did  clearly  appear ;  but  in  the  con- 
vocation the  business  was  more  fully  debated.      The  cjonvoca- 
tion  of  the  province  of  Canterbury  was  at  this  time  destitute 
of  its  head  and  principal  member  :  for  Warham,  archbishop  of  Warham's 
Canterbury,  was  dead  since  August  last  year.    He  was  a  great  ^J\, 
canonist,  an  able  statesman,  a  dextrous  courtier,  and  a  fa-  [1532- 
vourer  of  learned  men.      He  always  hated  cardinal  Wolsey,  p  3„  1 ' 
and  would  never  stoop  to  him,  esteeming  it  below  the  dignity 
of  his  see.     He  was  not  so  peevishly  engaged  to  the  learning 
of  the  schools  as  others  were,  but  set  up  and  encouraged  a 
more  generous  way  of  knowledge ;  yet  he  was  a  severe  perse- 
cutor of  them  whom  he  thought  heretics,  and  inclined  to  be- 
lieve idle  and  fanatical  people,  as  will  afterwards  appear,  when 
the  impostures  of  the  Maid  of  Kent  shall  be  related. 

The  king  saw  well  of  how  great  importance  it  was  to  the  The  king 
designs  he  was  then  forming,  to  fill  that  see  with  a  learned,  promote*0 
prudent,  and  resolute  man;  but  finding  none  in  the  episcopal  Cranmer. 
order  that  was  qualified  to  his  mind,  and  having  observed  a 


214  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

native  simplicity,  joined  with  much  courage,  and  tempered  with 
a  great  deal  of  wisdom,  in  Dr.  Cranmer,  who  was  then  nego- 
tiating his  business  among  the  learned  men  of  Germany,  he  of 
his  own  accord,  without  any  addresses  from  Cranmer,  designed 
to  raise  him  to  that  dignity,  and  gave  him  notice  of  it,  that  he 
might  make  haste,  and  come  home  to  enjoy  that  reward  which 
Fox,  the  king  had  appointed  for  him.  But  Cranmer,  having  received 

[vol  in.  p.  £j  •      ^  u  j     could  to  excuse  himself  from  the  burden  which 
533.J  ' 

was  coming  upon  him  ;  and  therefore  he  returned  very  slowly  128 
to  England,  hoping  that  the  king's  thoughts  cooling,  some 
other  person  might  step  in  between  him  and  a  dignity,  of 
which  having  a  just  and  primitive  sense,  he  did  look  on  it  with 
fear  and  apprehension,  rather  than  joy  and  desire.  This  was 
so  far  from  setting  him  back,  that  the  king  (who  had  known 
well  what  it  was  to  be  importuned  by  ambitious  and  aspiring 
churchmen,  but  had  not  found  it  usual  that  they  should  decline 
and  fly  from  preferment)  was  thereby  confirmed  in  his  high 
opinion  of  him  ;  and  neither  the  delays  of  his  journey,  nor  his 
entreaties  to  be  delivered  from  a  burden,  which  his  humility 
made  him  imagine  himself  unable  to  bear,  could  divert  the 
king.  So  that,  though  six  months  elapsed  before  the  thing 
was  settled,  yet  the  king  persisted  in  his  opinion,  and  the  other 
was  forced  to  yield. 
Cranmer'a  In  the  end  of  January  the  king  sent  to  the  pope  for  the 
Rome™11  bulls  f°r  Cranmers  promotion;  and  though  the  statutes  were 
passed  against  procuring  more  bulls  from  Rome,  yet  the  king 
resolved  not  to  begin  the  breach  till  he  was  forced  to  it  by  the 
pope.  It  may  be  easily  imagined,  that  the  pope  was  not 
hearty  in  this  promotion,  and  that  he  apprehended  ill  conse- 
quences from  the  advancement  of  a  man,  who  had  gone  over 
many  courts  of  Christendom,  disputing  against  his  power  of 
dispensing,  and  had  lived  in  much  familiarity  with  Osiander, 
and  the  Lutherans  in  Germany  :  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
had  no  mind  to  precipitate  a  rupture  with  England  ;  therefore 
he  consented  to  it,  and  the  bulls  were  expedited,  though,  in- 
stead of  annates,  there  was  only  nine  hundred  ducats  paid  for 
them. 

They  were  the  last  bulls  that  were  received  in  England  in 
this  king's  reign;  and  therefore  I  shall  give  an  account  of 
them,  as  they  are  set  down  in  the  beginning  of  Cranmer 's 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533-)  215 

Register.  By  one  bull  he  is,  upon  the  king's  nomination,  pro- 
moted to  be  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  which  is  directed  to 
the  king.  By  a  second,  directed  to  himself,  he  is  made  arch- 
bishop. By  a  third,  he  is  absolved  from  all  censures.  A  fourth 
is  to  the  suffragans.  A  fifth  to  the  dean  and  chapter.  A  sixth 
to  the  clergy  of  Canterbury.  A  seventh  to  all  the  laity  in  his 
see.  An  eighth  to  all  that  held  lands  of  it,  requiring  them  to 
receive  and  acknowledge  him  as  archbishop.  All  these  bear 
date  the  twenty-first  of  February  1533.  By  a  ninth  bull, 
dated  the  twenty-second  of  February,  he  was  ordained  to  be 
consecrated,  taking  the  oath  that  was  in  the  pontifical.  By  a 
tenth  bull,  dated  the  second  of  March,  the  pall  was  sent  him. 
And  by  an  eleventh,  of  the  same  date,  the  archbishop  of  York 
and  the  bishop  of  London  were  required  to  put  it  on  him. 
These  were  the  several  artifices  to  make  compositions  high, 
and  to  enrich  the  apostolical  chamber ;  for  now  that,  about 
which  St.  Peter  gloried  that  he  had  none  of  it,  {neither  silver  [Actsiii.6.] 
nor  gold,)  was  the  thing  in  the  world  for  which  his  successors 
were  most  careful. 

When   these   bulls   were   brought   into   England,   Thomas 
Cranmer  was  on  the  thirteenth40  of  March  consecrated  by  the 
bishops  of  Lincoln,  Exeter,  and  St.  Asaph41.    But  here  a  great 
scruple  was  moved  by  him  concerning  the  oath  that  he  was  to 
swear  to  the  pope,  which  he  had  no  mind  to  take ;  and  writers 
near  that  time  say,  the  dislike  of  that  oath  was  one  of  the 
motives  that  made  him  so  unwillingly  accept  of  that  dignity. 
He  declared,  that  he  thought  there  were  many  things  settled  His  pro- 
by  the  laws  of  the  popes  which  ought  to  be  reformed ;  and  ^out'iris 
129  that  the  obligation  which  that  oath  brought  upon  him  would  oath  to  the 
bind  him  up  from  doing  his  duty,  both  to  God,  the  king,  and  pope' 
the  church.     But  this  being  communicated  to  some  of  the 
canonists  and  casuists,  they  found  a  temper  that  agreed  better 
with  their  maxims  than  Cranmer's  sincerity ;  which  was,  that, 
before  he  should  take  the  oath,  he  should  make  a  good  and 
formal  protestation,  that  he  did  not  intend  thereby  to  restrain 
himself  from  any  thing  that  he  was  bound  to,  either  by  his 
duty  to  God,  or  the  king,  or  the  country;   and  that  he  re- 

40  For  thirteenth  read  thirtieth.  [S.] 

41  [Longland,  Veysey,  and  Standish.] 


216 


THE   HISTORY    OF 


[part  I. 


Antiquit. 
Britannife 
in  vita 
Cranmer. 
[pp.  490, 
491.] 


nounced  every  thing  in  it  that  was  contrary  to  any  of  these. 
This  protestation  he  made  in  St.  Stephen's  chapel  at  West- 
minster, in  the  hands  of  some  doctors  of  the  canon  law,  before 
he  was  consecrated,  and  he  afterwards  repeated  it  when  he 
took  the  oath  to  the  pope4-;  by  which,  if  he  did  not  vtholly 
save  his  integrity,  yet  it  was  plain  he  intended  no  cheat,  but 
to  act  fairly  and  above-board. 

As  soon  as  he  was  consecrated,  and  had  performed  every 
thing  that  was  necessary  for  his  investiture,  he  came  and  sat  in 
the  upper  house  of  convocation.  There  were  there  at  that  time 
hot  and  earnest  debates  upon  these  two  questions  ;  whether  it 
was  against  the  law  of  God,  and  indispensable  by  the  pope, 
for  a  man  to  marry  his  brother's  wife,  he  being  dead  without 
issue,  but  having  consummated  the  marriage?  And  whether 
prince  Arthur  had  consummated  his  marriage  with  the  queen  ? 
As  for  the  first,  it  was  brought  first  into  the  lower  house  of 
convocation,  and  when  it  was  put  to  the  vote,  fourteen  were 
for  the  affirmative,  seven  for  the  negative  ;  one  was  not  clear, 
and  another  voted  the  prohibition  to  be  moral,  but  yet  dispens- 
able by  the  pope.  In  the  upper  house  it  was  long  debated, 
Stokesley,  bishop  of  London,  arguing  for  the  affirmative  ;  and 
Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  for  the  negative.  The  opinions 
of  nineteen 43  universities  were  read  for  it ;  and  the  one  house 
being  as  full  as  the  other  was  empty,  two  hundred  and  six- 
teen44 being  present,  either  in  person  or  by  proxy,  it  was  car- 
ried in  the  affirmative,  nemine  contradicente ;  those  few  of  the 
queen's  party  that  were  there,  it  seems,  going  out.  For  the 
other  question  about  the  matter  of  fact,  it  was  remitted  to  the 
faculty  of  the  canon  law,  (it  being  a  matter  that  lay  within 
their  studies,)  whether  the  presumptions  were  violent,  and  such 


42  That  is  publicly,  and  at  his 
consecration.  I  know  this  has  been 
said,  but  I  wish  it  could  be  proved. 
I  have  two  letters  (MSS.  Latin)  of 
cardinal  Pole  to  archbishop  Cran- 
mer, wherein  he  charges  him  with 
having  done  it  only  in  a  private 
manner,  and  brands  his  proceeding 
therein  with  such  expressions  as  I 
am  unwilling  to  transcribe.  I  have 
likewise  seen  a  copy  of  this  protest- 


ation attested  by  public  notaries ; 
wherein  it  is  said  to  have  been  made 
in  St.  Stephen's  chapel,  but  nothing 
of  its  being  repeated  at  his  conse- 
cration. If  your  lordship  has  met 
with  any  thing  to  destroy  these  tes- 
timonies, I  shall  be  very  glad.  [B.] 

43  [See  part  hi.  p.  81.] 

44  [Parker  says  two  hundred  and 
seventy-two,  of  whom  nineteen  voted 
in  the  negative.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  217 

as,  in  the  course  of  law,  must  be  looked  on  as  good  evidences 
of  a  thing  that  was  secret,  and  was  not  capable  of  formal  proof? 
They  all,  except  five  or  six,  were  for  the  affirmative ;  and  all 
the  upper  house  confirmed  this,  the  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells 
only  excepted. 

In  this  account  it  may  seem  strange  that  there  were  but 
twenty-three'15  persons  in  the  lower  house  of  convocation,  and 
two  hundred  and  sixteen  in  the  upper  house.  It  is  taken  from 
an  unquestioned  authority  ;  so  the  matter  of  fact  is  not  to  be 
doubted.  The  most  learned  sir  Henry  Spelman  has  in  no 
place  of  his  Collection  of  our  Councils  considered  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  two  houses  of  convocation  ;  and  in  none  of  our 
records  have  I  been  able  to  discover  of  what  persons  they  were 
made  up  in  the  times  of  popery :  and  therefore,  since  we  are 
left  to  conjecture,  I  shall  offer  mine  to  the  learned  reader.  It 
is,  that  none  sat  in  the  lower  house  but  those  who  were  de- 
puted by  the  inferior  clergy  ;  and  that  bishops,  abbots,  mitred 
and  not  mitred,  and  priors,  deans  and  archdeacons  sat  then  in 
the  upper  house  of  convocation46.  To  which  I  am  induced  by 
these  two  reasons :  it  is  probable  that  all  who  were  declared 
ISO  prelates  by  the  pope,  and  had  their  writ  to  sit  in  a  general 
council,  had  likewise  a  right  to  come  to  the  upper  house  of 
convocation,  and  sit  with  the  other  prelates.  And  we  find  in 
the  tomes  of  the  councils,  that  not  only  abbots  and  priors,  but 
deans  and  archdeacons,  were  summoned  to  the  fourth  council 
in  the  Lateran,  and  to  that  at  Vienna.  Another  reason  is, 
that  their  sitting  in  two  houses  (for  in  all  other  nations  they 
sit  together)  looks  as  if  it  had  been  taken  from  the  constitution 
of  our  parliament ;  in  which  all  that  have  writs  personally  sit 
in  the  lords'  house,  and  those  who  come  upon  an  election  sit 
in  the  lower  house.  So  it  is  not  improbable,  that  all  who 
were  summoned  personally  sat  in  the  upper  house,  and  those 


45  The  number  of  those  who  voted  exceed  twenty-three.  [S.] 
being  only  twenty-three  must  be  46  [See  part  iii.  p.  81,  and  the 
understood  only  of  the  divines ;  for  Addenda  to  the  Records  of  this 
the  second  question  was  put  only  volume,  where  the  deans  and  arch- 
to  the  jurists,  who  in  those  times  deacons  sign  their  names  as  mem- 
exceeded  the  divines  in  number,  bers  of  the  lower  house  of  convoca- 
and  they  did  all  vote  in  the  affirma-  tion.] 
tive ;   so  that  the  numbers  did  far 


218  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

who  were  returned  with  an  election  sat  in  the  lower  house  of 
convocation. 

This  account  of  that  convocation  I  take  from  that  collection 
of  the  British  antiquities  which  is  believed  to  have  been  made 
by  Matthew  Parker,  who  lived  at  that  time,  and  was  after- 
wards archbishop  of  Canterbury.     But  the  convocation-books 
being  burnt,  there  are  no  records  to  be  appealed  to ;  yet  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that,  in  a  matter  of  fact  that  was  so  public 
and  well  known,  any  man  (especially  one  of  that  high  rank) 
would  have  delivered  falsehoods,  while  the  books  were  yet 
extant  that  would  have  disproved  them. 
New  en-         The  church  of  England  having  in  her  representative  made 
deajJ01JJ*s to  such  a  full  decision,  nothing  remained  but  to  give  judgment, 
queen         and  to  declare  the  marriage  null.     The  thing  was  already  de- 
termined ;   only  the  formality  of  a  sentence  declarative  was 
wanting.     But,  before  they  proceeded  to  that,  a  new  message 
was  sent  to  the  queen,  to  lay  all  that  had  passed  before  her, 
and  to  desire  her  to  acquiesce  in  the  opinions  of  so  many  uni- 
versities and  learned  men.     But  she  still  persisted  in  her  reso- 
lution to  own  her  marriage,  and  to  adhere  to  her  appeal  till 
the  pope  should  judge  in  it.     And  when  it  was  told  her,  that 
the  king  would  settle  the  jointure  that  she  was  to  have  by  his 
brother,  and  that  the  honour  of  princess  of  Wales  should  still 
Butinvain.  be  paid  her,  she  rejected  it.    But  the  new  queen  was  now  with 
[Hall,  p.      child,  and  brought  forth  queen  Elizabeth  the  seventh  of  Sep- 
8°s-]  tember  this  year  :  from  which,  looking  backwards  nine  months, 

to  the  beginning  of  December,  it  shews  that  she  must  have 
been  married  at  or  before  that  time :  for  all  the  writers  of 
both  sides  agree  that  she  was  married  before  she  conceived 
with  child.  The  king  therefore  thought  not  fit  to  conceal  it 
much  longer ;  so  on  Easter-eve  she  was  declared  queen  of 
England.  It  seems  it  was  not  thought  needful  at  that  time  to 
proceed  to  any  further  sentence  about  the  former  marriage ; 
otherwise  T  cannot  see  what  made  it  be  so  long  delayed,  since 
the  thing  was  in  their  power  now,  as  well  as  after.  And  it 
was  certainly  a  preposterous  method  to  judge  the  first  marriage 
null  after  the  second  was  published.  So  that  it  seems  more 
probable  they  did  not  intend  any  sentence  at  all,  till  after- 
wards, perhaps  upon  advertisements  from  beyond  sea,  they 
went  on  to  a  formal  process.     Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  the  king, 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  219 

remembering  the  old  advice  that  the  pope  sent  him,  once  to 
marry  a  second  wife,  and  then  to  send  for  a  commission  to  try 
the  matter,  which  the  pope  was  willing  to  confirm,  though  he 
would  not  seem  to  allow  it  originally,  resolved  to  follow  this 
method  ;  for  the  pope  was  now  closing  with  Francis,  from 
which  union  the  king  had  reason  to  expect  great  advantages. 
131      Whatsoever  were  the  reasons  of  the  delay,  the  process  was 

framed  in  this  method.     First47,  Cranmer  wrote  to  the  king48,  Cranmer 
that  the  world  had  been  long  scandalized  with  his  marriage,  Sentence* 
and  that  it  lay  on  him,  as  his  duty,  to  see  it  tried  and  deter-  of  divorce. 
mined ;    therefore  craved  his  royal  leave  to   proceed   in   it.  from  tjie 
Which  being  obtained,  both  the  king  and  queen  were  cited  to  originals. 
appear  before  the  archbishop,  at  Dunstable,  the  twentieth  ofotho.  c.  x. 
May ;    and  the  archbishop  went  thither,  with  the  bishops  of  [fol-  l66-l 
London,  Winchester,  (Gardiner,)  Bath  and  Wells,  and  Lincoln, 
and  many  divines  and  canonists.     That  place  was  chosen  be- 
cause the  queen  lay  then  very  near  it  at  Ampthill,  and  so  she 
could  not   pretend  ignorance  of  what  was  done  ;    and  they 
needed  not  put  many   days   in  the   citation,  but  might  end 
the  process  so  much  the  sooner.     On  the  tenth  of  May  the 
archbishop  sat  in  court,  and  the  king  appeared  by  proxy,  but 

47  Cranmer  in  a  letter  gives  this  others  learned  in  the  law,  being 
account  of  the  final  sentence  of  di-  counsellors  for  the  king.  And  so 
vorce,  in  these  words :  'As  touch-  these,  at  our  coming,  kept  a  court 
ing  the  final  determination  and  con-  for  the  appearance  of  the  said  lady 
eluding  of  the  matter  of  divorce,  Catharine ;  where  we  examined  cer- 
between  my  lady  Catharine  and  the  tain  witnesses ;  who  testified  that 
king's  grace :  after  the  convocation  she  was  lawfully  cited — and  called 
in  that  behalf  had  determined  and  to  appear,  as  the  process  of  the  law 
agreed,  according  to  the  former  thereunto  belongeth :  which  con- 
sentence  of  the  universities,  it  was  tinned  fifteen  days  after  our  first 
thought  convenient  by  the  king  and  coming  thither.  The  morrow  after 
his  learned  council  that  I  should  Ascension- Day,  I  gave  sentence 
repair  to  Dunstable — and  then  to  therein:  how  that  it  was  indispen- 
call  her  before  me,  to  hear  final  sible  for  the  pope  to  license  any 
sentence  in  this  said  matter.  Not-  such  marriage.'  [Letter  xiv.  p.  244.] 
withstanding  she  would  not  at  all  All  this  is  taken  out  of  Cranmer's 
obey  thereunto.  On  the  8th  of  letter  to  Hawkins.  [S.] 
May,  according  to  the  said  appoint-  48  [There  are  two  letters,  both 
ment,  I  came  to  Dunstable,  my  lord  printed,  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  part  2. 
of  Lincoln  being  assistant  to  me,  p.  392,  and  in  the  Parker  Society's 
and  my  lord  of  Winchester,  Dr.  edition  of  Cranmer's  Works,  vol.  ii. 
Bell,  Dr.Claybroke,  Dr.  Tregonnel,  p.  237,  bearing  the  same  date,  April 
Dr.  Sterkey  [al.  Hewis],  Dr.Olyver,  11,  1533,  requesting  permission  to 
Dr.  Britton,  Mr.  Bedel,  with  divers  try  the  case.] 


220  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  queen  appeared  not.  Upon  which  she  was  declared  con- 
tumax ;  and  a  second  citation  was  issued  out,  and  after  that  a 
third :  but  she  intended  not  to  appear,  and  so  she  was  finally 
declared  contumax.  Then  the  evidences  that  had  been  brought 
before  the  legates,  of  the  consummation  of  the  marriage  with 
prince  Arthur,  were  read.  After  that,  the  determinations  of 
the  universities,  and  divines  and  canonists,  were  also  produced 
and  read.  Then  the  judgments  of  the  convocations  of  both 
provinces  were  also  read,  with  many  other  instruments,  and 
the  whole  merits  of  the  cause  were  opened.  Upon  which, 
Collect.  after  many  sessions,  on  the  twenty-third  of  May,  sentence  was 
Numb.  47.  gjverij  with  the  advice  of  all  that  were  there  present,  declaring 
it  only  to  have  been  a  marriage  de  facto,  but  not  de  jure,  pro- 
nouncing it  null  from  the  beginning.  One  thing  is  to  be  ob- 
served, that  the  archbishop  in  the  sentence  is  called  the  legate 
of  the  apostolic  see.  Whether  this  went  of  course  as  one  of 
his  titles,  or  was  put  in  to  make  the  sentence  firmer,  the 
reader  may  judge.  Sentence  being  given,  the  archbishop, 
with  all  the  rest,  returned  to  London ;  and  five  days  after,  on 
the  twenty-eighth  of  May,  at  Lambeth,  by  another  judgment 
he  in  general  words  (no  reasons  being  given  in  the  sentence) 
[Hall,  p.  confirmed  the  king's  marriage  with  the  new  queen  Anne  ;  and 
°2,J  the  first  of  June  she  was  crowned  queen. 

The  cen-  When  this  great  business,  which  had  been  so  long  in  agita- 
ed^tthat  ^on'  was  *nus  concluded,  it  was  variously  censured,  as  men 
time.  stood  affected.      Some   approved  the   king's   proceedings  as 

canonical  and  just,  since  so  many  authorities,  which,  in  the 
interval  of  a  general  council,  were  all  that  could  be  had,  (ex- 
cept the  pope  be  believed  infallible,)  had  concurred  to 
strengthen  the  cause ;  and  his  own  clergy  had,  upon  a  full  and 
long  examination,  judged  it  on  his  side.  Others,  who  in  the 
main  agreed  to  the  divorce,  did  very  much  dislike  the  king's 
second  marriage  before  the  first  was  dissolved  ;  for  they 
thought  it  against  the  common  course  of  law  to  break  a  mar- 
riage without  any  public  sentence :  and  since  one  of  the  chief 
politic  reasons  that  was  made  use  of  in  this  suit  was  to  settle 
the  succession  of  the  crown,  this  did  embroil  it  more,  since 
there  was  a  fair  colour  given  to  except  to  the  validity  of  the 
second  marriage,  because  it  was  contracted  before  the  first  was 
annulled.     But  to  this  others  answered,  that  the  first  marriage 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  221 

being  judged  by  the  interpreters  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church 
to  have  been  null  from  the  beginning,  there  was  no  need  of 
any  sentence,  but  only  for  form.  And  all  concluded  it  had 
been  better  there  had  been  no  sentence  at  all  than  one  so 
132  late.  Some  excepted  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury's  being 
judge,  who,  by  his  former  writings  and  disputes,  had  declared 
himself  partial.  But  to  this  it  was  answered,  that,  when  a 
man  changes  his  character,  all  that  he  did  in  another  figure  is 
no  just  exception  :  so  judges  decide,  causes  in  which  they  for- 
merly gave  counsel ;  and  popes  are  not  bound  to  the  opinions 
they  held  when  they  were  divines  or  canonists.  It  was  also 
said,  that  the  archbishop  did  only  declare,  in  legal  form,  that 
which  was  already  judged  by  the  whole  convocation  of  both 
provinces.  Some  wondered  at  the  pope's  stiffness,  that  would 
put  so  much  to  hazard,  when  there  wanted  not  as  good  colours 
to  justify  a  bull,  as  they  had  made  use  of  to  excuse  many  other 
things.  But  the  emperor's  greatness,  and  the  fear  of  giving 
the  Lutherans  advantages  in  disputing  the  pope's  authority, 
were,  on  the  other  hand,  so  prevalent  considerations,  that  no 
wonder  they  wrought  much  on  a  pope,  who  pretended  to  no 
other  knowledge  but  that  of  policy  ;  for  he  had  often  said,  He 
understood  not  the  matter,  and  therefore  left  it  in  other  men's 
hands.  All  persons  excused  queen  Catharine  for  standing  so 
stiffly  to  her  ground ;  only  her  denying  so  confidently  that 
prince  Arthur  consummated  the  marriage,  seems  not  capable 
of  an  excuse.  Everybody  admired  queen  Anne's  conduct,  who 
had  managed  such  a  king's  spirit  so  long,  and  had  neither 
surfeited  him  with  great  freedom,  nor  provoked  him  by  the 
other  extreme :  for  the  king,  who  was  extremely  nice  in  these 
matters,  conceived  still  a  higher  opinion  of  her  ;  and  her 
being  so  soon  with  child  after  the  marriage,  as  it  made  people 
conclude  she  had  been  chaste  till  then,  so  they  hoped  for  a 
blessing  upon  it,  since  there  were  such  early  appearances  of 
issue.  Those  that  favoured  the  reformation  expected  better 
days  under  her  protection,  for  they  knew  she  favoured  them  r 
but  those  who  were  in  their  hearts  for  the  established  religion 
did  much  dislike  it;  and  many  of  the  clergy,  especially  the 
orders  of  monks  and  friars,  condemned  it,  both  in  their  ser- 
mons and  discourses. 

Rut  the  king,  little  regarding  the  censures  of  the  vulgar. 


222  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

sent  ambassadors  to  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  to  give  notice  of 
his  new  marriage,  and  to  justify  it  by  some  of  those  reasons 
which  have  been  opened  in  the  former  parts  of  this  history. 
He  also  sent  the  lord  Mountjoy  to  the  divorced  queen,  to  let 
her  know  what  was  done,  and  that  she  was  no  more  to  be 
treated  as  queen,  but  as  princess  dowager.  He  was  to  mix 
promises  with  threatenings,  particularly  concerning  her  daugh- 
ter's being  put  next  the  queen's  issue  in  the  succession. 
But  the  afflicted  queen  would  not  yield ;  and  said,  she  would 
not  damn  her  soul,  nor  submit  to  such  an  infamy  :  that  she 
was  his  wife,  and  would  never  call  herself  by  any  other  name, 
whatever  might  follow  on  it ;  since  the  process  still  depended 
Cott.  lib.  at  Rome.  That  lord  having  written  a  relation  of  what  had 
[fol.  199.1  passed  between  him  and  her,  shewed  it  to  her ;  but  she  dashed 
with  a  pen  all  those  places  in  which  she  was  called  princess 
dowager,  and  would  receive  no  service  at  any  one's  hands  but 
of  those  who  called  her  queen  ;  and  she  continued  to  be  still 
served  as  queen  by  all  about  her.  Against  which  though  the 
king  used  all  the  endeavours  he  could,  not  without  both  threat- 
ening and  violence  to  some  of  the  servants,  yet  he  could  never 
drive  her  from  it :  and  what  he  did  in  that  was  thought  far 
below  that  height  of  mind  which  appeared  in  his  other  actings ; 
for  since  he  had  stript  her  of  the  real  greatness  of  a  queen,  it  1 33 
seemed  too  much  to  vex  her  for  keeping  up  the  pageantry 
of  it. 

But  the  news  of  this  made  great   impressions   elsewhere. 
The  emperor  received  the  king's  justification  very  coldly,  and 
said  he  would  consider  what  he  was  to  do  upon  it  ;  which  was 
The  pope     looked  on  as  a  declaration  of  war.     The  French  king,  though 
himself  to    nc  exPresse(l  8*^1  great  friendship  to  the  king,  yet  was  now 
the  French  resolved  to  link  himself  to  the  pope  ;    for  the  crafty  pope, 
apprehending  that  nothing  made  the  king  of  England  so  con- 
fident, as  that  he  knew  his  friendship  was  necessary  to  the 
French  king,  and  fearing  they  had  resolved  to  proceed  at  once 
to  the  putting  down  the  papal  authority  in  their  kingdoms, 
(which  it  appears  they  had  once  agreed  to  do,)  resolved  by  all 
means  to  make  sure  of  the  French  king ;  which,  as  it  would 
preserve    that  kingdom   in   his  obedience,   so   would   perhaps 
frighten  the  king   of  England  from   proceeding   to  such  ex- 
tremities; since  that  prince,  in  whose  conjunction  he  trusted  so 


king. 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  223 

much,  had  forsaken  him  :  therefore  the  pope  did  so  vigorously 
pursue  the  treaty  with  Francis,  that  it  was  as  good  as  ended  at 
this  time,  and  an  interview  was  projected  between  them  at 
Marseilles.  The  pope  did  also  grant  him  so  great  power  over 
his  own  clergy,  that  he  could  scarce  have  expected  more  if  he 
had  set  up  a  patriarch  in  France  :  so  that  Francis  did  resolve 
to  go  on  in  the  designs,  which  had  been  concerted  between 
him  and  the  king  of  England,  no  further  :  but  still  he  con- 
sidered his  alliance  so  much,  that  he  promised  to  use  his  most 
effectual  intercession  with  the  pope  to  prevent  all  censures  and 
bulls  against  the  king ;  and,  if  it  were  possible,  to  bring  the 
matter  to  an  amicable  conclusion.  And  the  emperor  was  not 
ill  pleased  to  see  France  and  England  divided.  Therefore, 
though  he  had  at  first  opposed  the  treaty  between  the  pope 
and  Francis,  yet  afterwards  he  was  not  troubled  that  it  took 
effect ;  hoping  that  it  would  disunite  those  two  kings,  whose 
conjunction  had  been  so  troublesome  to  him. 

But  when  the  news  was  brought  to  Rome  of  what  was  done  And  con- 
in  England,  with  which  it  was  also  related,  that  books  were  tint's  pro- 
coming  out  against  the  pope's  supremacy,  all  the  cardinals  of  ceedings  in 
the  imperial  faction  pressed  the  pope  to  give  a  definite  sentence, 
arid  to  proceed  to  censures  against  the  king.  But  the  more 
moderate  cardinals  thought  England  was  not  to  be  thrown 
away  with  such  precipitation :  and  therefore  a  temper  was 
found,  that  a  sentence  should  be  given  upon  what  had  been 
attempted  in  England  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
(which,  in  the  style  of  the  canon  law,  were  called  the  attentates ;) 
for  it  was  pretended,  that  the  matter  depending  in  the  court  of 
Rome,  by  the  queen's  appeal,  and  the  other  steps  that  had 
been  made,  it  was  not  in  the  archbishop's  power  to  proceed  to 
any  sentence.  Therefore  in  general  it  was  declared,  that  all 
that  had  been  attempted  or  done  in  England  about  the  king's 
suit  of  divorce  was  null,  and  that  the  king  by  such  attempts 
was  liable  to  excommunication,  unless  he  put  things  again  in 
the  state  they  were  in,  and  that  before  September  next,  and 
that  then  they  would  proceed  further ;  and  this  sentence  was 
affixed  in  Dunkirk  soon  after. 

The  king,  resolving  to  follow  the  thing  as  far  as  it  was 
possible,  sent  a  great  embassy  to  Francis,  who  was  then  on  his 
journey  to  Marseilles,  to  dissuade  the  interview  and  marriage 


224  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

till  the  pope  gave  the  king  satisfaction.     But  the  French  king 

was  engaged  in  honour  to  go  forward ;  yet  he  protested  he  134 

would  do  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  compose  the  matter,  and 

that  he  would  take  any  injury  that  were  done  to  the  king 

as  highly  as  if  it  were  done  to  himself;  and  he  desired  the 

king   would  send   some  to   Marseilles,    who   thereupon   sent 

Gardiner  and  sir  Francis  Brian. 

Queen  Eli-      But  at  this  time  the  queen  brought  forth  a  daughter,  who 

born  was  christened  Elizabeth49  ;  (the  renowned  queen  of  England  ;) 

Sept.  7.       the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  beinff  her  godfather.     She  was 

TFTall 

p.  805.]       soon  after  declared  princess  of  Wales  ;  though  lawyers  thought 

that  against  law,  for  she  was  only  heir  presumptive,  but  not 

apparent,  to  the  crown,  since  a  son  coming  after,  he  must  be 

preferred.     Yet  the  king  would  justify  what  he    had   done 

in  his  marriage  with  all  possible  respect ;   and  having  before 

declared  the  lady  Mary  princess  of  Wales,  he  did  now  the 

same  in  favour  of  the  lady  Elizabeth. 

An  inter-        The  interview  between  the  pope  and  the  French  king  was  at 

tween  the   Marseilles  in  October,  where  the  marriage  was  made  up  be- 

pope  and     tween  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  Catharine  de  Medici ;  to  whom, 

king  at       besides  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  portion,  the  principality 

Marseilles.  0f  many  towns  in  Italy,  as  Milan,  Reggio,  Pisa,    Leghorn, 

Herbert,     Parma,  and  Piacenza,  and  the  duchy  of  Urbino,  were  given. 

p-  388-]       Xo  the  former  the  pope  pretended  in  the  right  of  the  popedom, 

and  to  the  last  in  the  right  of  the  house  of  Medici.     But  the 

French  king  was  to  clear  all  those  titles  by  his  sword.  As  for  the 

The  pope    king's  business,  the  pope  referred  it  to  the  consistory.     But  it 

to  ffiveten-  seems  there  was  a  secret  transaction  between  him  and  Francis, 

tence  for     that  if  the  king  would  in  all  other  things  return  to  his  wonted 

England's    obedience  to  the  apostolic  see,  and  submit  the  matter  to  the 

divorce,      judgment  of  the  consistory,  (excepting  only  to  the  cardinals  of 

the  imperial  faction,  as  partial  and  incompetent  judges ;)  the 

decision  should  be  made  to  his  heart's  content.     This  I  collect 

from    what    will    afterwards   appear.      The   king,    upon   the 

49  Queen  Elizabeth  was  born  the  Dorset  were  godmothers.  [S.]     [It 

13th  or  14th  day  of  September ;  for  is     no    longer    a     question,     that 

so    Cranmer    wrote     to     Hawkins  Elizabeth     was    born    on    Sunday 

[Letter  lxxxiii,    p.  274.]    and  says  Sept.  7,  1533,  as    Hall    says.  Vide 

that  he  himself  was  godfather  at  her  Harl.  MSS.    vol.283,   fol.  75.   and 

christening,   and    the    old   duchess  State  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  407.] 
of  Norfolk  and  the  marchioness  of 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  225 

sentence  that  was  passed  against  him,  sent  Bonner  to  Mar- 
seilles™ ;  who,  procuring  an  audience  of  the  pope,  delivered  to 
him  the  authentic  instrument  of  the  king's  appeal  from  him  to 
the  next  general  council  lawfully  called.     At  this  the  pope  was  [Herbert, 
much  incensed,  hut  said  he  would  consider  of  it  in  consistory  ;  p'  3  ^-l 
and,  having  consulted  about  it  there,  he  answered,  that  the 
appeal  was  unlawful,  and  therefore  he  rejected  it ;  and  for  a 
general  council,  the  calling  of  it  belonged  to  him,  and  not 
to  the  king.     About  the  same  time  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, being  threatened  with  a  process  from  Rome,  put  in  also 
his  appeal  to  the  next  general  council.     Upon  which  Bonner 
delivered  the  threatenings  that  he  was  ordered  to  make,  with 
so  much  vehemency  and  fury,  that  the  pope  talked  of  throw- 
ing him  in  a  caldron  of  melted  lead,  or  of  burning  him  alive  ; 
and  he,  apprehending  some  danger,  made  his  escape.     About 
the  middle  of  November  the  interview  ended,  the  pope  return- 
ing to  Rome,  and  the  French  king  to  Paris  ;  a  firm  alliance 
being   established    between    them.      But    upon   the    duke    of 
Orleans'  marrying  the  pope's  niece,  I  shall  add  one  observation, 
that  will  neither  be  unpleasant  or  impertinent.     The  duke  of 
Orleans  was  then  but  fourteen  years  and  nine  months  old, 
being  born  on  the  last  of  March  1518,  and  yet  was  believed  to  Bzovius. 
have  consummated  his  marriage  the  very  first  night  after  :    so  Secies 
the  pope's  historians  tell  us  with  much  triumph  ;  though  they  t.  xix. 
represented  that  improbable,  if  not  impossible,  in  prince  Arthur,  Colon. 
who  was  nine  months  elder  when  he  died.  1621-30.] 

Upon  the  French  king's  return  from  Marseilles,  the  bishop  The  French 
1 35  of  Paris  was  sent  over  to  the  king  :  which  (as  may  be  reason-  v"^|  ^^ 
ably  collected)  followed  upon  some  agreement  made  at  Mar-  the  king  of 
seilles;  and  he  prevailed  with  the  king  to  submit  the  whole  subnet*  to  ° 
matter  to  the  pope  and  the  consistory,  on  such  terms  that  the  the  P°Pe- 
imperialists  should  not  be  allowed  a  voice,  because  they  were 
parties,  being  in  the  emperor's  power.     None  that  has  observed 
the  genius  of  this  king  can  think,  that,  after  he  had  proceeded 
so  far,  he  would  have  made  this  submission  without  very  good 

50    [Vid.    Clerke  (B.)]      Fidelis  ecclesise     Monarchia     a     Nicholao 

servi     subdito    infideli    responsio,  Sandero  conscripta.  Londini.  Apud 

[una  cum  errorum  et  calumniarum  Johannem    Dayum    Typographum 

quarundam  examine  qua?  continen-  An.  1573.     This    volume    is    not 

tur    in    septimo    libro    de    visibili  paged.] 

BURNET,  PART  I.  Q 


226  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

assurances  ;  and  if  there  had  not  been  great  grounds  to  expect 
good  effects  from  it,   the  bishop   of  Paris  would  not  in  the 
middle  of  winter  have  undertaken  a  journey  from  England  to 
Rome.     But  the  king,  it  seems,  would  not  abase  himself  so  far 
as  to  send  any  submission  in  writing,  till  he  had  fuller  assur- 
ances.    The  lord  Herbert  has  published  a  letter,  (which  he 
[May  21,     transcribed  from   the   original,  written  by  the  archbishop   of 
p  402#-i '     York  and  the  bishop  of  Durham  to  the  king,  the  eleventh 
of  May  1534,)  giving  an  account  of  a  conference  they  had  with 
queen  Catharine  ;  in  which,  among  other  motives  they  used, 
this  was  one ;   to  persuade  her  to  comply  with  what  the  king 
had  done  :   That  the  pope  had  said  at  Marseilles,  that  if  the 
king  ivoidd  send  a  proxy  to  Rome,  he  would  give  the  cause  for 
him  against  the  queen,  because  he  knew  his  cause  was  good 
and  just.     Which  is  a  great  presumption,  that  the  pope  did 
really  give  some  engagements  to  the  French  king  about  the 
king's  business. 
Which  was      When  the  bishop  of  Paris  came  to  Rome,  the  motion  was 
ceived  at     ^ked,  and  it  was  promised,  that  if  the  king  sent  a  promise 
Rome.        of  that  under  his  hand,  with  an  order  to  his  proxies  to  appear  ■ 
Hist.  in  court,  there  should  be  judges  sent  to  Cambray  to  form  the 

Trent  by     process,  and  then  the  matter  should  be  determined  for  him  at 

Padre         Rome.     This  was  sent  to  the  king,  with  the  notice  of  the  day- 
Paolo.  .  . 
[p-  65.']        that  was  prefixed  for  the  return  of  his  answer  :  and  with  other 

motives,  which  must  have  been  very  great,  since  they  prevailed 
so  much.  For  in  answer  there  was  a  courier  despatched  from 
the  king,  with  a  formal  promise  under  his  hand.  And  now  the 
matter  seemed  at  a  point,  the  French  interest  was  great  in  the 
court  of  Rome  ;  four  new  cardinals  had  been  made  at  Mar- 
seilles, and  there  were  six  of  that  faction  before,  which,  with 
the  pope's  creatures,  and  the  indifferent  or  venal  voices, 
balanced  the  imperial  faction  ;  so  that  a  wound,  that  was  looked 
on  as  fatal,  was  now  almost  healed.  But  God,  in  his  wise  and 
unsearchable  providence,  had  designed  to  draw  other  great 
ends  out  of  this  rupture ;  and  therefore  suffered  them  that 
Avere  the  most  concerned  to  hinder  it,  to  be  the  chief  in- 
But  the  im-  struments  of  driving  it  on.  For  the  cardinals  of  the  imperial 
perialists  faction  were  now  very  active  ;  they  liked  not  the  precedent  of 
opposed  it'  excluding  the  cardinals  of  the  nations  concerned,  out  of  any 
business.     But  above  all  things  they  were  to  hinder  a  conjunc- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  227 

tion  between  the  pope  and  the  king  of  England  ;  for  the  pope 
being  then  allied  to  France,  there  was  nothing  the  emperor 
feared  more  than  the  closing  the  breach  with  England ;  which 
would  make  the  union  against  him  so  much  stronger.  There- 
fore, when  the  day  that  had  been  prefixed  for  the  return  of 
the  courier  from  England  was  elapsed,  they  all  pressed  the 
pope  to  proceed  to  a  sentence  definitive,  and  to  censures.  Bellay, 
the  bishop  of  Paris,  represented  the  injustice  of  proceeding 
with  so  much  precipitation,  since,  where  there  were  seas  to 
cross,  in  such  a  season,  many  accidents  might  occasion  the 
delay  of  the  express.  The  king  of  England  had  followed  this 
suit  six  years,  and  had  patience  so  long :  therefore  he  desired 
136  the  delay  of  six  days  ;  and  if  in  that  time  no  return  came,  they 
might  proceed.  But  the  imperialists  represented,  that  those 
were  only  delays  to  gain  time ;  and  that  the  king  of  England 
was  still  proceeding  in  his  contempt  of  the  apostolic  see,  and  of 
the  cardinals,  and  publishing  books  and  libels  against  them. 
This  so  wrought  on  the  angry  pope,  that,  without  consulting 
his  ordinary  prudence,  he  brought  the  business  into  the  con- 
sistory, where  the  plurality  of  voices  carried  it  to  proceed  to  a 
sentence.  And  though  the  process  had  been  carried  on  all  And  with 
that  winter  in  their  usual  forms,  yet  it  was  not  so  ripe,  but,  by  p!^^6' 
the  rules  of  the  consistory,  there  ought  to  have  been  three  procure  a 
sessions  before  sentence  was  given.  But  they  concluded  all  in  a,crain"t*tlie 
one  day  ;  and  so,  on  the  twenty-third  of  March,  the  marriage  king- 
between  the  king  and  queen  Catharine  was  declared  good,  and 
the  king  required  to  take  her  as  his  wife ;  otherwise  censures 
were  to  be  denounced  against  him. 

Two  days  after  that,  the  courier  arrived  from  England,  with 
the  king's  submission  under  his  hand  in  due  form  ;  and  earnest 
letters  from  the  French  king  to  have  it  accepted,  that  so 
the  business  might  be  composed.  When  this  was  known  at 
Rome,  all  the  indifferent  and  wise  cardinals  (among  whom  was 
Farnesc,  that  was  afterwards  pope  Paul  the  Third)  came  to  the 
pope,  and  desired  that  it  might  be  again  considered,  before  it 
went  further.  So  it  was  brought  again  into  the  consistoiy. 
But  the  secret  reason  of  the  imperialists  opposing  it  was  now 
more  pressing,  since  there  was  such  an  appearance  of  a  settle- 
ment, if  the  former  sentence  were  once  recalled.  Therefore 
they  so  managed  the  matter,  that  it  was  confirmed  anew  by  the 

Q  2 


228  THE   HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

pope  and  the  consistory  ;   and  they  ordered  the  emperor  to 

execute  the  sentence.  • 

The  king  The  king  was  now  in  so  good  hope  of  his  business,  that  he 
abolish  the  sent  su>  Edward  Carne  to  Rome  to  prosecute  his  suit :  who,  on 
pope's         his  way  thither,  met  the  bishop  of  Paris  coming  back  with  his 

power  in  .  .  . 

England,  melancholic  account  ot  his  unprosperous  negotiation.  When 
the  king  heard  it,  and  understood  that  he  was  used  with  so 
much  scorn  and  contempt  at  Rome,  being  also  the  more  vexed 
because  he  had  come  to  such  a  submission,  he  resolved  then  to 
break  totally  from  Rome.  And  in  this  he  was  beforehand 
with  that  court;  for,  judging  it  the  best  way  to  procure  a 
peace,  to  manage  the  war  vigorously,  he  had  held  a  session  of 
parliament  from  the  fifteenth  of  January  till  the  thirtieth  of 
March  ;  in  which  he  had  procured  a  great  change  of  the  whole 
constitution  of  the  government  of  the  church.  But,  before 
I  give  an  account  of  that,  I  shall  first  open  all  the  arguments 
and  reasons,  upon  which  I  find  they  proceeded  in  this  matter. 
Which  had  The  pope's  power  had  been  then  for  four  years  together 
disputed  muca  examined  and  disputed  in  England ;  in  which  they  went 
there.  by  these  steps,  one  leading  to  another.  They  first  controverted 
his  power  of  dispensing  with  the  law  of  God.  From  that  they 
went  to  examine  what  jurisdiction  he  had  in  England ;  upon 
which  followed  the  convicting  the  clergy  of  a  prcemunire,  with 
their  submission  to  the  king.  And  that  led  them  to  controvert 
the  pope's  right  to  annates,  and  other  exactions,  which  they 
also  condemned.  The  condemning  all  appeals  to  Rome  followed 
that  naturally.  And  now  so  many  branches  of  that  power 
were  cut  off,  the  root  was  next  struck  at,  and  the  foundations  of 
the  papal  authority  were  examined.  For  near  a  year  together  137 
there  had  been  many  public  debates  about  it ;  and  both  in  the 
parliament  and  convocation  the  thing  was  long  disputed,  and 
Ilpelegrino  all  that  could  be  alleged  on  both  sides  was  considered.     The 

Iti£t1gsg 

[fol.  56.]  reader  will  be  best  able  to  judge  of  their  reasons  (and  thereby 
r*al<!  r  °^  ^'ie  ripcness  °f  their  judgments,  when  they  enacted  the  laws 
that  passed  in  this  parliament)  when  he  sees  a  full  account 
of  them  ;  which  I  shall  next  set  down :  not  drawn  from  the 
writings  and  apologies  that  have  been  published  since,  but 
from  these  that  came  out  about  that  time.  For  then  were 
written  The  Institution  for  the  necessary  Erudition  of  a 
Christian  Man,  concluded  in  the  convocation,  and  published 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  229 

by  authority;  and  another  book"'1,  De  Differentia  Regke  et 
Ecclesiasticoi  Potestatis.  The  former  of  these  was  called  the 
bishops'  and  the  latter  the  king's  book.  Gardiner  also  wrote 
a  book,  De  vera  Obedientia,  to  which  Bonner  prefixed  a 
preface  upon  the  same  subject.  Stokesley  bishop  of  London, 
and  Tunstall  bishop  of  Durham,  wrote  a  long  letter  in  defence 
of  the  king's  proceedings  in  this  matter  to  Reginald  (soon  after 
cardinal 52)  Pole :  from  these  writings,  and  the  sermons 
preached  by  some  bishops  at  this  time,  with  other  authentic 
pieces,  I  have  extracted  the  substance  of  the  arguments  upon 
which  they  grounded  their  laws,  which  I  shall  divide  in  two 
heads.  The  one,  of  the  reasons  for  rejecting  the  pope's 
pretended  power  :  the  other,  for  setting  up  the  king's  su- 
premacy, with  the  explanations  and  limitations  of  it. 

"  First,  of  the  pope's  power,  they  declared  that  they  found  The  argu- 
"  no  ground  for  it  in  the  scripture.     All  the  apostles  were  mentoupon 
"made  equal  by  Christ,  when  he  committed  the  church   towasreject- 
"  their  care  in  common.     And  he  did  often  declare,  there  wTas  e 
"  no  superiority  of  one  above  another.     St.  Paul  claimed  an 
"  equality  with  the   chief  apostles,   both   Peter,  James,   and 
11  John ;    and  when  he    thought   St.  Peter   blameworthy,   he 
"  withstood  him  to  his  face.     But   whatsoever  preeminence 
"  St.  Peter  might  have,  that  was  only  personal,  and  there  was 
"  no  reason  to  affix  it  to   his  chair  at  Rome,  more  than  at 


51   The    order    in    which    these  gum  in  suis  ecclesiis  contra  Pontificis 

books  were   published   is   not  ob-  tyrannidem  ;    and    the    distinction 

served ;  they  were  thus  printed ;  there   made   between   the   bishops' 

1.  De  vera  differentia  regies  po-  book  and  the  king's  book  seems 
testatis  et  ecclesiastics  (written  by  not  well  applied.  It  is  more  pro- 
Edward  Fox,  Bishop  of  Hereford)  bable  that  The  institution  of  a  Christ- 
1534.  ian  man  set  out  by  the  bishops  was 

2.  De  vera  obedientia  (by  Ste-  called  their  book;  and  that  being 
phen  Gardiner)  153.5,  set  out  with  afterwards  put  in  another  method, 
Bonner's  preface  before  it  in  Jan.  and  set  out  by  the  king's  authority, 
1536.  it  was  called  his  book.   [F]    [Seethe 

3.  The  institution  of  a  Christian  preface  to  'Formularies  of  Faith,' 
man,  1537,  which  was  afterwards  Oxford  1825,  for  a  full  account  of 
reduced  into  another  form  under  the  different  MS.  copies  and  printed 
another  title,  viz.  A  necessary  doc-  editions  of  this  work.] 

trine  and  erudition  for  any  Christian  62    He   was   then    cardinal ;    for 

man,  1540.  they  exhort   him  to  return  to   his 

But   there  was  another  put  out  duty  to  the  king,  and  to  surrender 

before  all  these :  up  his  red  hat.     Letter  printed  cum 

De  potestate    Christianorum    re-  priv.  [B] 


230  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

Antioch.  But  if  any  see  be  to  be  preferred  before  another, 
it  should  be  Jerusalem,  where  Christ  died,  and  out  of  which 
the  faith  was  propagated  over  all  nations,  Christ  command- 
ing his  disciples  to  begin  their  preaching  in  it ;  so  that 
it  was  truly  the  mother  church,  and  is  so  called  by  St.  Paul  : 
whereas  in  the  scripture,  Rome  is  called  Babylon,  according 
to  Tertnllian  and  St.  Jerome. 

"For  the  places  brought  from  scripture  in  favour  of  the 
papacy,  they  judged  that  they  did  not  prove  any  thing  for  it. 
That  Thou  art  Peter,  and  Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 
church,  if  it  prove  any  thing  in  this  matter,  would  prove  too 
much  ;  even  that  the  church  was  founded  on  St.  Peter,  as  he 
was  a  private  person,  and  so  on  the  popes  in  their  personal 
capacity.  But  both  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Jerome,  and  St.  Austin 
think,  that  by  the  rock,  the  confession  he  had  made  was  only 
to  be  meant.  Others  of  the  fathers  thought,  by  the  rock, 
Christ  himself  was  meant,  who  is  the  only  true  foundation  of 
the  church  ;  though  in  another  sense  all  the  apostles  are  also 
called  foundations  by  St.  Paul.  That,  Tell  the  church, 
is  thought  by  Gerson  and  iEneas  Silvias  (afterwards  pope  138 
Pius  the  Second)  rather  to  make  against  the  pope  and  for  a 
general  council.  And  the  fathers  have  generally  followed 
St.  Chrysostom  and  St.  Austin,  who  thought,  that  the  giving 
of  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  charge,  Feed 
my  sheep,  were  addressed  to  St.  Peter,  in  behalf  of  all 
the  rest  of  the  apostles.  And  that,  i"  have  prayed  for  thee, 
that  thy  faith  fail  not,  was  only  personal,  and  related  to  his 
fall,  which  was  then  imminent.  It  is  also  clear  by  St.  Paul, 
that  every  apostle  had  his  peculiar  province,  beyond  which 
he  was  not  to  stretch  himself ;  and  St.  Peter's  province  was 
the  circumcision,  and  his  the  uncircumcision  ;  in  which  he 
plainly  declares  his  equality  with  him. 
"  This  was  also  clear  from  the  constant  tradition  of  the 
church.  St.  Cyprian  was  against  appeals  to  Rome,  and 
would  not  submit  to  pope  Stephen's  definition  in  the  point  of 
rebaptizing  of  heretics ;  and  expressly  says,  That  all  the 
apostles  were  equal  in  power,  and  that  all  the  bishops  ivere 
also  equal,  since  the  whole  office  and  episcopate  was  one 
entire  thing,  of  which  every  bishop  had  a  complete  and 
equal  share.  And  though  some  places  are  brought  out 
of  him  concerning  the  unity  of  the   Roman  church,   and 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  231 

"  of  other  churches  with  it ;  yet  those  places  have  no  relation 
"  to  any  authority  that  the  Roman  church  had  over  other 
"  churches,  but  were  occasioned  by  a  schism  that  Novatian 
"  had  made  there  at  Rome,  being  elected  in  opposition  to  the 
"  bishop  that  was  rightly  chosen ;  and  of  that  unity  only 
"  St.  Cyprian  writes  in  those  places.  But  from  all  his  epistles 
"  to  the  bishops  of  Rome,  it  is  visible  he  looked  on  himself  as 
"  their  equal,  since  he  calls  them  brother,  colleague,  and 
" felloiv-bishop.  And  whatsoever  is  said  by  any  ancient 
"  writer  of  St.  Peter's  chair,  is  to  be  understood  of  the  pure 
"  gospel  which  he  delivered ;  as  St.  Austin  observes,  that 
"  by  Moses'  chair  is  to  be  understood,  the  delivering  of  Moses' 
"  laiv.  But  though  St.  Peter  sat  there,  the  succeeding  popes 
"  have  no  more  right  to  pretend  to  such  authority,  than  the 
"  kings  of  Spain  to  claim  the  Roman  empire,  because  he  that 
"  is  now  their  king  is  emperor.  When  Constantine  turned 
"  Christian,  the  dignity  of  the  chief  city  of  the  empire  made 
"  Rome  to  be  accounted  the  first  see ;  but  by  the  general 
"  council  of  Nice  it  was  declared,  that  the  patriarchs  of  Alex- 
"  andria  and  Antioch  had  the  same  authority  over  the  countries 
"  round  about  them,  that  he  of  Rome  had  over  those  that  lay 
"  about  that  city.  It  is  true,  at  that  time  the  Arian  heresy 
"  having  spread  generally  over  the  eastern  churches,  from 
"  which  the  western  were  free,  the  oppressed  catholic  bishops 
"  of  the  east  made  appeals  to  Rome,  and  extolled  that  see  by  a 
"  natural  maxim  in  all  men,  who  magnify  that  from  which 
"  they  have  protection.  But  the  second  general  council  took 
"  care  that  that  should  not  grow  a  precedent ;  for  they  dc- 
"  creed,  that  every  province  should  be  governed  by  its  own 
"  synod ;  and  that  bishops,  when  they  were  accused,  must 
"  first  be  judged  by  the  bishops  of  their  own  province,  and 
"  from  them  they  might  appeal  to  the  bishops  of  the  diocese, 
"  but  no  higher  appeal  was  allowed  :  and  by  that  council 
"  it  appears,  what  was  the  foundation  of  the  greatness  of  the 
"  bishop  of  Rome  ;  for  when  Constantinople  was  made  the 
"  seat  of  the  empire  and  new  Rome,  it  had  the  same  privileges 
I39  "  ^at  °ld  R°me  had,  and  was  set  next  to  it  in  order  and 
"  dignity.  In  a  council  at  Milcvi,  in  which  St.  Austin  sat, 
"  they  appointed,  that  every  clerk  that  should  appeal  to  any 
"  bishop  beyond  the  sea,   should  be  excommunicated.     And 


232  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

when  Faustinianus  was  sent  by  the  pope  to  the  African 
churches,  to  claim  the  right  of  receiving  appeals,  and  pre- 
tended a  canon  of  the  council  of  Nice  for  it ;  the  pretension 
was  rejected  by  the  African  fathers,  who  acknowledged  no 
such  right,  and  had  never  heard  of  that  canon.  Upon  which 
they  sent  to  the  eastern  churches,  and  search  was  every- 
where made  for  the  copies  of  the  canons  of  that  council ;  but 
it  was  found  that  it  was  a  forgery.  From  whence  two  things 
were  observable  :  the  one,  that  the  church  in  that  age  had 
no  tradition  of  any  divine  institution  for  the  authority  of  that 
see,  since  as  the  popes,  who  claimed  it,  never  pretended 
to  any  such  thing;  so  the  African  bishops,  by  their  rejecting 
that  power,  shew  that  they  knew  nothing  of  any  divine 
warrant;  all  the  contest  being  only  about  a  canon  of  the 
church.  It  also  appeared,  how  early  the  church  of  Rome 
aspired  to  power,  and  did  not  stick  at  making  use  of  forged 
writings  to  support  it.  But  pope  Agatho,  more  modestly 
writing  to  the  emperor  in  his  own  name,  and  in  the  name  of 
all  the  synods  that  were  subject  to  his  see,  calls  them,  a  few 
bishops  in  the  northern  and  western  parts.  AVhen  after- 
wards the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  was  declared  by  the 
emperor  Mauritius  the  universal  bishop,  Gregory  the  Great 
did  exclaim  against  the  ambition  of  that  title,  as  being  equal 
to  the  pride  of  Lucifer  ;  and  declared,  that  he  who  assumed 
it  was  the  forerunner  of  Antichrist ;  saying,  that  none  of 
his  predecessors  had  ever  claimed  such  a  power.  And  this 
was  the  more  observable,  since  the  English  were  converted 
by  those  whom  he  sent  over ;  so  that  this  was  the  doctrine 
of  that  see,  when  this  church  received  the  faith  from  it. 
"  But  it  did  not  continue  long  within  those  limits ;  for 
Boniface  the  Third  assumed  that  title,  upon  the  grant  of 
Phocas.  And  as  that  Boniface  got  the  spiritual  sword  put  in 
his  hand,  so  the  eighth  of  that  name  pretended  also  to  the 
temporal  sword  ;  but  they  owe  these  powers  to  the  industry 
of  those  popes,  and  not  to  any  donation  of  Christ's.  The 
popes,  when  they  are  consecrated,  promise  to  obey  the 
canons  of  the  eight  first  general  councils,  which  if  they 
observe,  they  will  receive  no  appeals,  nor  pretend  to  any 
higher  jurisdiction  than  these  give  to  them,  and  the  other 
patriarchs  equally. 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  233 

"  As  for  the  decrees  of  latter  councils,  they  arc  of  less 
"  authority.  For  those  councils  consisted  of  monks  and  friars 
"  in  great  part,  whose  exemptions,  obtained  from  Rome,  obliged 
"  them  to  support  the  authority  of  that  court ;  and  those  who 
"  sat  in  them  knew  little  of  the  scriptures,  fathers,  or  the 
"  tradition  of  the  church,  being  only  conversant  in  the  disputes 
"  and  learning  of  the  schools.  And  for  the  Florentine  council, 
"  the  eastern  churches,  who  sent  the  Greek  bishops  that 
"  sat  there,  never  received  their  determination ;  neither  then, 
"  nor  at  any  time  since. 

"  Many  places  were  also  brought  out  of  the  fathers,  to  shew 
"  that  they  did  not  look  on  the  bishops  of  Rome  as  superior  to 
"  other  bishops  ;  and  that  they  understood  not  those  places  of 
]  40  "  scripture,  which  were  afterwards  brought  for  the  pope's 
"  supremacy,  in  that  sense  ;  so  that  if  tradition  be  the  best  ex- 
"  pounder  of  scripture,  those  latter  glosses  must  give  place  to 
"  the  more  ancient.  But  that  passage  of  St.  Jerome,  in  which 
"  he  equals  the  bishops  of  Eugubium  and  Constantinople  to  the 
"  bishop  of  Rome,  was  much  made  use  of,  since  he  was  a 
"  presbyter  of  Rome,  and  so  likely  to  understand  the  dignity 
"  of  his  own  church  best.  There  were  many  things  brought 
"  from  the  contests  that  other  sees  had  with  Rome,,  to  shew, 
"  that  all  the  privileges  of  that  and  other  sees  were  only 
"  founded  on  the  practice  and  canons  of  the  church,  but  not 
"  upon  any  divine  warrant.  Constantinople  pretended  to 
"  equal  privileges.  Ravenna,  Milan,  and  Aquileia  pretended  to 
"  a  patriarchal  dignity  and  exemption.  Some  archbishops  of 
"  Canterbury  contended,  that  popes  could  do  nothing  against 
"  the  laws  of  the  church  ;  so  Laurence  and  Dunstan.  Robert 
"  Grostest,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  asserted  the  same,  and  many 
"  popes  confessed  it.  And  to  this  day  no  constitution  of  the 
"  pope's  is  binding  in  any  church,  except  it  be  received  by  it ; 
"  and  in  the  daily  practice  of  the  canon  law,  the  customs  of 
"  churches  are  pleaded  against  papal  constitutions ;  which 
"  shews  their  authority  cannot  be  from  God,  otherwise  all 
"  must  submit  to  their  laws.  And  from  the  latter  contests  up 
"  and  down  Europe,  about  giving  investitures,  receiving  ap- 
"  peals,  admitting  of  legates,  and  papal  constitutions,  it  was 
"  apparent,  that  the  papal  authority  was  a  tyranny,  which  had 
"  been  managed  by  cruel  and  fraudulent  arts,  but  was  never 


234 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


The  argu- 
ments for 
the  king's 
supremacy. 

From  the 
Old  Testa- 
ment. 


i  Sam.  xv, 


i  Chron. 
xxviii.  21. 


1  Chron. 
viii.  14,  15. 


And  the 
New. 


"  otherwise  received  in  the  church  than  as  a  conquest,  to 
"  which  they  were  constrained  to  yield.  And  this  was  more 
"  fully  made  out  in  England,  from  what  passed  in  William  the 
"  Conqueror  and  Henry  the  Second's  time,  and  by  the  statutes 
(c  0f  provisors  in  many  kings'  reigns,  which  were  still  renewed, 
"  till  within  a  hundred  years  of  the  present  time." 

Upon  these  grounds  they  concluded,  that  the  pope's  power 
in  England  had  no  foundation,  neither  in  the  law  of  God,  nor 
in  the  laws  of  the  church,  or  of  the  land. 

u  As  for  the  king's  power  over  spiritual  persons,  and  in 
"  sph'itual  causes,  they  proved  it  from  the  scriptures.  In  the 
"  Old  Testament  they  found  the  kings  of  Israel  intermeddled 
"  in  all  matters  ecclesiastical.  Samuel,  though  he  had  been 
"  judge,  yet  acknowledged  Saul's  authority :  so  also  did 
"  Abimelech  the  high  priest,  and  appeared  before  him  when 
"  cited  to  answer  upon  an  accusation.  And  Samuel  says,  he 
"  ivas  made  the  head  of  all  the  tribes.  Aaron,  in  that,  was 
"  an  example  to  all  the  following  high  priests,  who  submitted 
"  to  Moses.  David  made  many  laws  about  sacred  things, 
"  such  as,  the  order  of  the  courses  of  the  priests,  and  their 
"  worship  ;  and  when  he  was  dying,  he  declared  to  Solomon 
"  how  far  his  authority  extended.  He  told  him,  That  the 
"  courses  of  the  priests  and  all  the  people  ivere  to  be  tvholly 
C(  at  his  commandment :  pursuant  to  which,  Solomon  did 
"  appoint  them  their  charges  in  the  service  of  God,  and  both 
"  the  jwiests  and  Levites  departed  not  from,  his  commandment 
"  in  any  matter :  and  though  he  had  turned  out  Abiathar 
"  from  the  high  priesthood,  yet  they  made  no  opposition. 
"  Jehoshaphat,  Hezekiah,  and  Josiah  made  likewise  laws  about 
"  ecclesiastical  matters. 

"  In  the  New  Testament,  Christ  himself  was  obedient ;  he  141 
"  paid  taxes,  he  declared  that  he  pretended  to  no  earthly 
"  kingdom,  he  charged  the  people  to  render  to  Cwsar  the 
"  things  that  were  Caisars,  and  his  disciples  not  to  affect 
"  temporal  dominion,  as  the  lords  of  the  nations  did.  And 
"  though  the  magistrates  were  then  heathens,  yet  the  apostles 
"  wrote  to  the  churches  to  obey  magistrates,  to  submit  to 
"  them,  to  pay  taxes  ;  they  call  the  king  supreme,  and  say 
"  he  is  God's  minister  to  encourage  them  that  do  well,  and  to 
"  punish  the  evil-doers,  which  is  said  of  all  persons  without 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  235 

"  exception,  and  every  soul  is  charged  to  be  subject  to  the 
"  higher  power. 

"  Many  passages  were  cited  out  of  the  writings  of  the 
"  fathers,  to  shew,  that  they  thought  churchmen  were  included 
"  in  these  places  as  well  as  other  persons  :  so  that  the  tradition 
"  of  the  church  was  for  the  king's  supremacy  :  and  by  one 
"  place  of  scripture,  the  king  is  called  supreme ;  by  another, 
"  he  is  called  head ;  and  by  a  third,  Every  soul  must  be  subject 
"  to  him;  which  laid  together  make  up  this  conclusion,  that 
"  the  king  is  the  supreme  head  over  all  persons.  In  the 
"  primitive  church,  the  bishops  in  their  councils  made  rules 
"  for  ordering  their  dioceses,  which  they  only  called  canons  or 
"  rules ;  nor  had  they  any  compulsive  authority,  but  what 
"  was  derived  from  the  civil  sanctions. 

"  After  the  emperors   were  Christians,  they  made   many  And  the 
"  laws  about  sacred  things,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  codes ;  and  theprimi- 
"  when  Justinian  digested  the  Roman  law,  he  added  many  tive 

.  church. 

"  novel  constitutions  about  ecclesiastical  persons  and  causes. 
"  The  emperors  called  general  councils,  presided  in  them,  and 
"  confirmed  them.  And  many  letters  v/ere  cited  of  popes  to 
"  emperors,  to  call  councils,  and  of  the  councils  to  them  to 
"  confirm  their  decrees.  The  election  of  the  popes  themselves 
"  was  sometimes  made  by  the  emperors,  and  sometimes  con- 
"  firmed  by  them.  Pope  Adrian  in  a  synod  decreed,  that 
"  the  emperor  should  choose  the  pope  :  and  it  was  a  late  and 
"  unheard-of  thing,  before  the  days  of  Gregory  the  Seventh, 
"  for  popes  to  pretend  to  depose  princes,  and  give  away  their 
"  dominions.  This  they  compared  to  the  pride  of  Antichrist 
"  and  Lucifer. 

"  They  also  argued  from  reason,  that  there  must  be  but  one  And  from 
"  supreme ;  and  that  the  king  being  supreme  over  all  his reason" 
"  subjects,  clergymen  must  be  included,  for  they  are  still 
"  subjects.  JSor  can  their  being  in  orders  change  that  former 
"  relation,  founded  upon  the  law  of  nature  and  nations,  no  more 
"  than  wives  or  servants,  by  becoming  Christians,  were  not, 
"  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles,  discharged  from 
"  the  duties  of  their  former  relations, 

"  For  the  great  objection  from  those  offices  that  are  peculiar 
"  to  their  functions,  it  was  answered,  that  these  notwithstand- 
"  ing,  the  king  might  well  be  supreme  head  :  for  in  the  natural 


236  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

(<  body  there  were  many  vital  motions  that  proceeded  not 
"  from  the  head,  but  from  the  heart,  and  the  other  inward 
"  parts  and  vessels ;  and  yet  the  head  was  still  the  chief  seat 
"  and  root  of  life  :  so,  though  there  be  peculiar  functions 
"  appropriated  to  churchmen,  yet  the  king  is  still  head : 
"  having  authority  over  them,  and  a  power  to  direct  and 
"  coerce  them  in  these. 
And  from        "  From  that  they  proceeded  to  shew,  that  in  England  the 

the  laws  of  ,,  .  .  ,  ,  ,  .  ?     .       .      ,  -,  Ar> 

England.  kings  nave  always  assumed  a  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  142 
"  matters.  They  began  with  the  most  ancient  writing  that 
"  relates  to  the  Christian  religion  in  England  then  extant,  pope 
"  Eleutherius'  letter  to  king  Lucius,  in  which  he  is  twice  called 
"  by  him,  God's  vicar  in  his  kingdom ;  and  he  writ  in  it,  that 
"  it  belonged  to  his  office  to  bring  his  subjects  to  the  holy 
"  church,  and  to  maintain,  protect,  and  govern  them  in  it. 
"  Many  laws  were  cited,  which  Canutus,  Ethelred,  Edgar, 
"  Edmund,  Athelstan  and  Ina  had  enacted  concerning  church- 
"  men  ;  many  more  laws  since  the  conquest  were  also  made, 
"  both  against  appeals  to  Rome,  and  bishops  going  out  of  the 
"  kingdom  without  the  king's  leave. 

"  The  whole  business  of  the  articles  of  Clarendon,  and  the 
"  contests  that  followed  between  king  Henry  the  Second  and 
"  Thomas  Becket,  were  also  opened.  And  though  a  bishop's 
"  pastoral  care  be  of  divine  institution,  yet  as  the  kings  of 
"  England  had  divided  bishoprics  as  they  pleased,  so  they  also 
"  converted  benefices  from  the  institution  of  the  founders,  and 
"  gave  them  to  cloisters  and  monasteries,  as  king  Edgar  did  ; 
"  all  which  was  done  by  the  consent  of  their  clergy  and 
"  nobility,  without  dependence  on  Rome :  they  had  also 
"  granted  these  houses  exemption  from  episcopal  jurisdiction ; 
"  so  Ina  exempted  Glastonbury,  and  On°a  St.  Albans,  from 
"  their  bishops'  visitation  :  and  this  continued  even  till  the 
"  days  of  William  the  Conqueror  ;  for  he,  to  perpetuate  the 
"  memory  of  the  victory  he  obtained  over  Harold,  and  to 
"  endear  himself  to  the  clergy,  founded  an  abbey  in  the  field 
"  where  the  battle  was  fought,  and  called  it  Battle  Abbey  ; 
"  and  in  the  charter  he  granted  them,  these  words  are  to  be 
[Monasti-  "  found  :  It  shall  be  also  free  and  quiet  for  ever  from  all  sub- 
oanumngl  "  jection  to  bishops,  or  the  dominion  of  any  other  persons,  as 
vol.  iii.  cc  Christ's  church  in  Canterbury  is.  Many  other  things  were 
{>•  243-1 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  237 

"  brought  out  of  king  Alfred's  laws,  and  a  speech  of  king 
"  Edgar's,  with  several  letters  written  to  the  popes  from  the 
"  kings,  the  parliaments,  and  the  clergy  of  England,  to  shew, 
"  that  their  kings  did  always  make  laws  about  sacred  matters, 
"  and  that  their  power  readied  to  that,  and  to  the  persons  of 
"  churchmen  as  well  as  to  their  other  subjects." 

But  at  the  same  time  that  they  pleaded  so  much  for  the  The  quaii- 

,.,  ,  f  ^  •  ^  £■  i_    •    •         fication  of 

king  s  supremacy,  and  power  ot  making  laws  tor  restraining  that  SUpre- 
and  coercing  his  subjects,  it  appeared  that  they  were  far  from  macy- 
vesting  him  with  such  an  absolute  power  as  the  popes  had  pre- 
tended to ;    for  they  thus   defined  the  extent  of  the  king's 

power  :  To  them specially  and  principally  it  pertaineth  to  Necessary 

defend  the  faith  of  Christ  and  his  religion,  to  conserve  and  Up0n  the 
maintain  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ  and  all  such  as  be  true  sacrament 

^  t  of  orders. 

preachers  and  setters  forth  thereof;  and  to  abolish  abuses,  [p.  287.  ap. 

heresies,  and  idolatries,  and  to  punish  ivith  corporal  pains  ,    .rmu" 

such  as  of  malice  be  the  occasion  of  the  same.     And  finally,  Faith,  &c. 

to  oversee  and  cause  that  the  said  bishops  and  priests  do  r82e  i 

execute  their  pastoral  office  tridy  and  faithfully,  and  specially 

in  these  points,  which  by  Christ  and  his  apostles  ivas  given 

and  committed  to  them :  and  in  case  they  shall  be  negligent 

in  any  part  thereof,  or  would  not  diligently  execute  the  same, 

to  cause  them  to  redouble  and  supply  their  lack :    and  if  they 

obstinately  withstand  their  prince's  kind  monition,  and  ivill 

not  amend  their  faults,  then  and  in  such  case  to  put  others  in 

their  rooms  and  pAaces.     And  God  hath  also  commanded  the 

143  said  bishops  and  priests  to  obey  ivith  all  humbleness  and 

reverence,  both  kings,  and  princes,  and  governors,   and  all 

their  laws,  not  being  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  whatsoever 

they  be  :  and  that  not  only  propter  iram,  but  also  propter 

conscientiam,  that  is  to  say,  not  only  for  fear  of  punishment, 

but  also  for  discharge  of  conscience. 

Thus  it  appears,  that  they  both  limited  obedience  to  the 

king's  laws,  with  the  due  caution  of  their  not  being  contrary  to 

the  law  of  God,  and  acknowledged  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 

in   the    discharge   of  the   pastoral   office,    committed   to   the 

pastors  of  the  church  by  Christ  and  his  apostles ;    and  that  the 

supremacy  then  pretended  to  was  no  such  extravagant  power 

as  some  imagine. 

"  Upon  the  whole  matter,  it  was  concluded,  that  the  pope's  The  neces- 
sity of  ex- 


238 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


tirpating 
the  pope's 
2)ower. 


Pains 
taken  to 
satisfy 
Fisher 
about  it. 


The  origi- 
nal is  in  the 
Cott.  lib. 
Otho  x. 
[fol.161.] 


"  power  in  England  had  no  good  foundation,  and  had  been 
"  managed  with  as  much  tyranny,  as  it  had  begun  with 
"  usurpation ;  the  exactions  of  their  courts  were  every  where 
"  heavy,  but  in  no  place  so  intolerable  as  in  England  :  and 
"  though  many  complaints  were  made  of  them  in  these  last 
"  three  hundred  years,  yet  they  got  no  ease,  and  all  the  laws 
"  about  provisors  were  still  defeated  and  made  ineffectual ; 
"  therefore  they  saw  it  was  impossible  to  moderate  their  pro- 
"  ceedings,  so  that  there  was  no  other  remedy  but  to  extirpate 
"  their  pretended  authority,  and  thenceforth  to  acknowledge 
"  the  pope  only  bishop  of  Home,  with  the  jurisdiction  about  it, 
"  denned  by  the  ancient  canons :  and  for  the  king  to  reassume 
"  his  own  authority,  and  the  prerogatives  of  his  crown,  from 
"  which  the  kings  of  England  had  never  formally  departed, 
"  though  they  had  for  this  last  hundred  years  connived  at  an 
"  invasion  and  usurpation  upon  them,  which  was  no  longer  to 
"  be  endured." 

These  were  the  grounds  of  casting  off  the  pope's  power,  that 
had  been  for  two  or  three  years  studied  and  inquired  into  by 
all  the  learned  men  in  England,  and  had  been  debated  both 
in  convocation  and  parliament ;  and,  except  Fisher  bishop  of 
Rochester,  I  do  not  find  that  any  bishop  appeared  for  the 
pope's  power :  and  for  the  abbots  and  priors,  as  they  were 
generally  very  ignorant,  so  what  the  cardinal  had  done  in  sup- 
pressing some  monasteries,  and  what  they  now  heard,  that  the 
court  had  an  eye  on  their  lands,  made  them  to  be  as  compliant 
as  could  be.  But  Fisher  was  a  man  of  great  reputation,  and 
very  ancient,  so  that  much  pains  was  taken  to  satisfy  him.  A 
week  before  the  parliament  sat  down,  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury proposed  to  him,  that  he  and  any  five  doctors,  such  as 
he  should  choose,  and  the  bishop  of  London,  and  five  doctors 
with  him,  might  confer  about  it,  and  examine  the  authorities 
of  both  sides,  that  so  there  might  be  an  agreement  among 
them,  by  which  the  scandal  might  be  removed,  which  other- 
wise would  be  taken  from  their  j anglings  and  contests  among 
themselves.  Fisher  accepted  of  this,  and  Stokesley  wrote  to 
him  on  the  eighth  of  January,  that  he  was  ready  whenever 
the  other  pleased,  and  desired  him  to  name  time  and  place ; 
and  if  they  could  not  agree  the  matter  among  themselves,  he 
moved  to  refer  it  to  two  learned  men  whom  they  should  choose, 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  239 

in  whose  determination  they  would  both  acquiesce.  How  far 
this  overture  went,  I  cannot  discover  ;  and  perhaps  Fisher's 
sickness  hindered  the  progress  of  it.  But  now,  on  the  fifteenth 
of  January,  the  parliament  sat  down ;  by  the  Journals  I  find  [Journals 
144  no  other  bishops  present  but  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  p  cgi ' 
the  bishops  of  London,  Winchester,  Lincoln,  Bath  and  Wells, 
Llandaff,  and  Carlisle.  There  were  also  twelve  abbots  pre- 
sent ;  but  upon  what  pretences  the  rest  excused  their  attend- 
ance, I  do  not  know  :  pei'haps  some  made  a  difference  between 
submitting  to  what  was  done,  and  being  active  and  concurring 
to  make  the  change.  During  the  session,  a  bishop  preached  [Hall, 
every  Sunday  at  Paul's  Cross,  and  declared  to  the  people,  that  p' 
the  pope  had  no  authority  at  all  in  England.  In  the  two 
former  sessions  the  bishops  had  preached,  that  the  general 
council  was  above  the  pope  ;  but  now  they  struck  a  note 
higher.  This  was  done  to  let  the  people  see  what  justice  and 
reason  was  in  the  acts  that  were  then  passing,  to  which  I  now 
turn ;  and  shall  next  give  an  account  of  this  great  session  of 
parliament,  which  I  shall  put  rather  in  the  natural  method 
according  to  the  matter  of  the  acts,  than  in  the  order  of  time 
as  they  passed. 

On  the  ninth  of  March  a  bill  came  up  from  the  commons  Journal 
for  discharging  the  subjects  of  all  dependence  on  the  court  of  ryolT 
Rome :  it  was  read  the  first  time  in  the  house  of  lords  the  P-  75] 
thirteenth  of  March,  and  on  the  fourteenth  was  read  the  second 
time  and  committed.     The  committee  reported  it  on  the  nine- 
teenth, by  which  it  appears,  there  was  no  stiff  nor  long  oppo- 
sition ;  and  he  that  was  likeliest  to  make  it  was  both  obnox- 
ious and  absent,  as  will  afterwards  appear.     On  the  nineteenth  [ibid. 
it  was  read  the  third  time,  and  on  the  twentieth  the  fourth  p' 77'^ 
time,  and  then  passed  without  any  protestation.     Some  pro- 
visos were  added  to  it  by  the  lords,  to  which  the  commons 
agreed ;  and  so  it  was  made  ready  for  the  royal  assent. 

"  In  the  preamble  the  intolerable  exactions  for  Peter-pence,  The  act  for 
"  provisions,  pensions,  and  bulls  of  all  sorts,  are  complained  of,  a^v^h 
"  which  were  contrary  to  all  laws,  and  grounded  only  on  the  pope's 
"  pope's  power  of  dispensing,  which  was  usurped.      But  the  power" 
"  king,  and  the  lords  and  commons  within  his  own  realm,  had 
"  only  power  to  consider  how  any  of  the  laws  were  to  be  dis- 
"  pensed  with  or  abrogated ;  and  since  the  king  was  acknow- 


240  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  ledged  the  supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England  by  the 
"  prelates  and  clergy  in  their  convocations,  therefore  it  was 
It  is  the  act  "  enacted,  that  all  payments  made  to  the  apostolic  chamber, 
Statute-      "  an(l  a^  provisions,  bulls,  or  dispensations,  should  from  thence- 
Book,  27  in  «  forth  cease.     But  that  all  dispensations  or  licenses  for  things 

the  Record,         .  ,       ,  „  _     ,    -  ° 

and  8  in  that  were  not  contrary  to  the  law  01  God,  but  only  to  the 

the  Jour-  «  jaw  0f  £ne  \an^  should  be  granted  within  the  kingdom,  by 
[Statutes,  "  and  under  the  seals  of  the  two  archbishops  in  their  several 
vo  .  m.  p.  ( 1  pr0vinces ;  who  should  not  presume  to  grant  any  contrary 
"  to  the  laws  of  Almighty  God,  and  should  only  grant  such 
"  licenses  as  had  been  formerly  in  use  to  be  granted,  but  give 
"  no  license  for  any  new  thing  till  it  were  first  examined  by 
"  the  king  and  his  council,  whether  such  things  might  be  dis- 
"  pensed  with  ;  and  that  all  dispensations  which  were  formerly 
"  taxed  at  or  above  four  pounds,  should  be  also  confirmed 
"  under  the  great  seal.  Then  many  clauses  follow  about  the 
u  rates  of  licenses,  and  the  ways  of  procuring  them.  It  was 
"  also  declared,  that  they  did  not  hereby  intend  to  vary  from 
"  Christ's  church  about  the  articles  of  the  catholic  faith  of 
"  Christendom,  or  in  any  other  things  declared  by  the  scrip- 
"  tures,  and  the  word  of  God,  necessary  for  their  salvation ; 
"  confirming  withal  the  exemptions  of  monasteries  formerly 
"  granted  by  the  bishop  of  Rome,  exempting  them  still  from  the 
"  archbishops'  visitations ;  declaring  that  such  abbeys,  whose  ^ak 
"  elections  were  formerly  confirmed  by  the  pope,  shall  be  now 
"  confirmed  by  the  king  ;  who  likewise  shall  give  commission 
"  under  his  great  seal  for  visiting  them ;  providing  also,  that 
"  licenses  and  other  writs  obtained  from  Rome  before  the 
"  twelfth  of  March  in  that  year  should  be  valid  and  in  force, 
"  except  they  were  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  realm ;  giving 
"  also  to  the  king  and  his  council  power  to  order  and  reform 
"  all  indulgences  and  privileges  (or  the  abuses  of  them)  which 
"  had  been  granted  by  the  see  of  Rome.  The  offenders 
"  against  this  act  were  to  be  punished  according  to  the  statutes 
"  of  2^rovi$ors  and  ^rcewiwiwVe." 

This  act,  as  it  gave  great  ease  to  the  subject,  so  it  cut  off 

that  base  trade  of  indulgences  about  divine  laws,  which  had 

The  judg-    been  so  gainful  to  the  church  of  Rome,  but  was  of  late  fatal  to 

mentspass-  ^      aj]  m  tne  religious  houses  saw  their  privileges  now  struck 

act.  at,  since  they  were  to  be  reformed  as  the  king  saw  cause, 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  241 

which  put  them  in  no  small  confusion.  Those  that  favoured 
the  reformation  rejoiced  at  this  act,  not  only  because  the  pope's 
power  was  rooted  out,  but  because  the  faith  that  was  to  be 
adhered  to  was  to  be  taken  from  those  things  which  the  scrip- 
tures declared  necessary  to  salvation ;  so  that  all  their  fears 
were  now  much  qualified,  since  the  scripture  was  to  be  the 
standard  of  the  catholic  faith.  On  the  same  day  that  this  bill 
passed  in  the  house  of  lords,  another  bill  was  read  for  confirm- 
ing the  succession  to  the  crown  in  the  issue  of  the  king's  pre- 
sent marriage  with  queen  Anne.  It  was  read  the  second  time  [Journals 
on  the  twenty -first  of  March,  and  committed.  It  was  reported  °  '°g  g'o , 
on  the  twenty -third,  and  read  the  third  time  and  passed,  and 
sent  down  to  the  commons,  who  sent  it  back  again  to  them  on 
the  twenty-sixth  ;  so  speedily  did  this  bill  go  through  both 
houses  without  any  opposition. 

The  preamble  of  it  was :  "  The  distractions  that  had  been  Act  about 
"  in  England  about  the  succession  to  the  crown,  which  had  sion  to  tne 
"  occasioned  the  effusion  of  much  blood,  with  many  other  mis-  crown  22 

J  in  the  Sta- 

"  chiefs,  all  which  flowed  from  the  want  of  a  clear  decision  of  tute-Book, 

"  the  true  title,  from  which  the  popes  had  usurped  a  power  of  f>^e"ordhe 

"  investing  such  as  pleased  them  in  other  princes'  kingdoms,  26  in  the 

"  and  princes  had  often  maintained  such  donations  for  their  fstatutes 

"  other  ends ;  therefore,  to  avoid  the  like  inconveniences,  the  vo1-  *"•  p- 

"  king's  former  marriage  with  the  princess  Catharine  is  judged 

"  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  and  void  and  of  no  effect ;  and 

"  the  sentence  passed  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  an- 

"  nulling  it,  is  confirmed,  and  the  lady  Catharine  is  thenceforth 

"  to  be  reputed  only  princess  dowager,  and  not  queen,  and 

"  the  marriage  with  queen  Anne  is  established  and  confirmed  : 

ec  and  marriages  within  the  degrees  prohibited  by  Moses  (which 

"  are  enumerated  in  the  statute)  are  declared  to  be  unlawful, 

"  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  convocations  of  this  realm, 

"  and  of  the  most  famous  universities  and  learned  men  abroad, 

"  any  dispensations  to   the    contrary  notwithstanding,  which 

"  are  also  declared  null,  since  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God ; 

"  and  all  that  were  married  within  these  degrees  are  appointed 

"  to  be  divorced,  and  the  children  begotten  in  such  marriages 

"  were  declared  illegitimate :  and  all  the  issue  that  should  be 

"  between  the  king  and  the  present  queen  is  declared  lawful, 

"  and  the  crown  was  to  descend  on  his  issue  male  by  her,  or 

BURNET,  PART  I.  R 


242  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  any  other  wife ;    or  in  default  of  issue  male,  to   the  issue 

"  female  by  the  queen ;    and  in  default  of  any  such,  to  the 

"  right  heirs  of  the  king's  highness  for  ever  :  and  any  that  146 

"  after  the  first  of  May  should  maliciously  divulge  any  thing 

"  to  the  slander  of  the  king's  marriage,  or  of  the  issue  begotten 

"  in  it,  were  to  be  adjudged  for  misprision  of  treason,  and  to 

"  suffer  imprisonment  at  the  king's  will,  and  forfeit  all  their 

"  goods  and  chattels  to  him  ;   and  if  the  queen  outlived  the 

"■  king,  she  is  declared  regent  till  the  issue  by  her  were  of 

"  age,  if  a  son  eighteen,  and  if  a  daughter  sixteen  years  of 

"  age ;    and  all  the  king's  subjects  were  to  swear  that  they 

"  would  maintain  the  contents  of  this  act ;  and  whoever,  being 

u  required,  did  refuse  it,  was  to  be  judged  guilty  of  misprision 

"  of  treason,  and  punished  accordingly."     The  oath,  it  seems, 

was  likewise  agreed  on  in  the  house  of  lords ;    for  the  form 

The  oath     0f  it  is  set  down  in  their  Journal  as  follows  :  "  Ye  shall  swear 

succession.  "  to  bear  faith,  truth,  and  obedience  alonely  to  the  king's 

[Journals    <c  majesty,  and  to  his  heirs  of  his  body  of  his  most  dear  and 

vol.i.p.82.]  "  entirely  beloved  lawful  wife  queen  Anne,  begotten  and  to  be 

"  begotten.     And  further,  to  the  heirs  of  our  said  sovereign 

"  lord  according  to   the  limitation  in  the  statute  made  for 

"  surety  of  his  succession  in  the  crown  of  this  realm  mentioned 

"  and  contained,  and  not  to  any  other  within  this  realm,  nor 

"  foreign  authority  or  potentate.      And  in  case  any  oath  be 

"  made,  or  hath  been  made  by  you,  to  any  person  or  persons, 

"  that  then  ye  to  repute  the  same  as  vain  and  annihilate.   And 

"  that  to  your   cunning,  wit,   and  uttermost  of  your  power, 

"  without  guile,  fraud,  or  other  undue  means,  ye  shall  observe, 

"  keep,  maintain,  and  defend  the  said  act  of  succession,  and 

"  all  the  whole  effects  and  contents  thereof,  and  all  other  acts 

"  and  statutes  made  in  confirmation,  or  for  execution  of  the 

"  same,  or  of  any  thing  therein  contained.     And  this  ye  shall 

"  do  against  all  manner  of  persons,  of  what  estate,  dignity, 

"  degree,  or  condition  soever  they  be ;   and  in  no  wise  to  do 

"  or  attempt,  nor  to  your  power  suffer  to  be  done  or  attempted, 

"  directly  or  indirectly,  any  thing  or  things,  privily  or  apartly, 

"  to  the  let,  hindrance,  damage,  or  derogation  thereof,  or  of 

"  any  part  of  the  same,  by  any  manner  of  means,  or  for  any 

"  manner  of  pretence.     So  help  you  God,  and  all  saints,  and 

"  the  holy  evangelists." 


book  ii.]  THE    REFORMATION.    (1534)  243 

And  thus  was  the  king's   marriage  confirmed.     But  when      1534, 
the  commons  returned  this  bill  to  the  lords,  they  sent  them 
another  with  it,  concerning  the  proceedings  against  heretics, 
There  had  been  complaints  made  formerly,  as  was  told  before, 
of  the  severe  and  intolerable  proceedings  in  the  ecclesiastical 
courts  against  heretics  :  and  on  the  fourth  of  February  the 
commons  sent  up  a  complaint  made  by  one  Thomas  Philips 
against  the  bishop  of  London  for  using  him  cruelly  in  prison, 
upon  the  suspicion  of  heresy  ;  but  the  lords  doing  nothing  in 
it,  on  the  first  of  March  the  house  of  commons  sent  some  of 
their  number  to  the  bishop,  requiring  him  to  make  answer  to  journal 
the    complaints    exhibited   against   him,   who   acquainted  the  Fro^r-j 
house  of  lords  with  it  the  next  day :  but  as  they  had  formerly 
laid  aside  the  complaint  as  not  worthy  of  their  time,  so  they 
all  with  one  consent  answered,  that  it  was  not  fit  for  any  of 
the  peers  to  appear  or  answer  at  the  bar   of  the  house  of 
commons.      Upon  this  the  house  of  commons,   finding  they 
could  do  nothing  in  that  particular  case,  resolved  to  provide  an 
effectual  remedy  for  such  abuses  for  the  future  :  and  therefore 
sent  up  a  bill  about  the  punishment  of  heretics,  which  was  read 
that  day  for  the  first  time,  and  the  second  and  third  time  on 
the  twenty-seventh  and  twenty-eighth,  in  which  it  passed. 
147      "  The  act  was  a  repeal  of  the  statute  of  the  second  of  Henry  Act  about 
"  the   Fourth,  by  which  bishops,  upon  suspicion  of  heresy,  £um*.hin.g 
"  might  commit  any  to  prison,  as  was  before  told ;  but  in  that  14  in  the 
"  act  there  was  no  declaration  made,  what  was  heresy,  except  g0a0£  e~  in 
"  in  the  general  words  of  what  was  contrary  to  scriptures,  or  theEecord, 
"  canonical  sanctions.     This  was  liable  to  great  ambiguity,  by  journal. 
"  which  men  were  in  much  danger,  and  not  sufficiently  in-  [Statutes, 

,  .  .     vol.  111.  p. 

"  structed  what  was  heresy.  They  also  complained  of  their  454.] 
"  proceedings  without  presentment  or  accusation,  contrary  to 
"  what  was  practised  in  all  other  cases,  even  of  treason  itself ; 
"  and  many  canonical  sanctions  had  been  established  only  by 
"  popes,  without  any  divine  precept :  therefore  they  repealed 
"  the  act  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  but  left  the  statutes  of  Richard 
"  the  Second  and  Henry  the  Fifth  still  in  force,  with  the  fol- 
"  lowing  regulation  :  That  heretics  should  be  proceeded 
"  against  upon  presentments  by  two  witnesses  at  least,  and 
"  then  be  committed,  but  brought  to  answer  to  their  indict- 
"  ments  in  open  court ;  and  if  they  were  found  guilty,  and 

1:  2 


244 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  r. 


The  sub- 
mission 
made  by 
the  clergy 
to  the  king ; 
19  in  the 
Statute- 
Book,  25  in 
the  Record, 
[ibid, 
p.  460.] 


"  would  not  abjure,  or  were  relapse,  to  be  adjudged  to  death ; 
"  the  king's  writ  de  hceretico  comburendo  being  first  obtained. 
"  It  was  also  declared,  that  none  should  be  troubled  upon  any 
"  of  the  pope's  canons  or  laws,  or  for  speaking  or  doing  against 
"  them.  It  was  likewise  provided,  that  men  committed  for 
"  heresy  might  be  bailed." 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  how  acceptable  this  act  was  to 
the  whole  nation,  since  it  was  such  an  effectual  limitation  of 
the  ecclesiastical  power,  in  one  of  the  uneasiest  parts  of  it ; 
and  this  regulation  of  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  spiritual 
courts  was  a  particular  blessing  to  all  that  favoured  reforma- 
tion. But,  as  the  parliament  was  going  on  with  these  good 
laws,  there  came  a  submission  from  the  clergy,  then  sitting  in 
convocation,  to  be  passed  in  parliament.  With  what  opposi- 
tion it  went  through  the  two  houses  of  convocation,  and  the 
house  of  commons,  is  not  known ;  for  as  the  registers  of  the 
convocation  are  burnt,  so  it  does  not  appear  that  there  were 
any  journals  kept  in  the  house  of  commons  at  that  time.  On 
the  twenty-seventh  of  March  it  was  sent  up  to  the  lords  ;  and 
since  the  spiritual  lords  had  already  consented  to  it,  there  was 
no  reason  to  apprehend  any  opposition  from  the  temporal  lords. 
The  session  was  now  near  an  end  ;  so  they  made  haste,  and 
read  it  twice  that  day,  and  the  third  time  the  next  day,  and 
passed  it.  The  contents  of  it  were :  "  The  clergy  acknow- 
"  ledged  that  all  convocations  had  been  and  ought  to  be 
"  assembled  by  the  king's  writ ;  and  promised,  in  verbo  sacer- 
"  dotii,  that  they  would  never  make  nor  execute  any  new 
"  canons  or  constitutions,  without  the  royal  assent  to  them ; 
"  and  since  many  canons  had  been  received  that  were  found 
"  prejudicial  to  the  king's  prerogative,  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
"  the  land,  and  heavy  to  the  subjects ;  that  therefore  there 
"  should  be  a  committee  of  thirty-two  persons,  sixteen  of  the 
"  two  houses  of  parliament,  and  as  many  of  the  clergy,  to  be 
"  named  by  the  king,  who  should  have  full  power  to  abrogate 
"  or  confirm  canons  as  they  found  it  expedient ;  the  king's 
"  assent  being  obtained.  This  was  confirmed  by  act  of  parlia- 
"  ment ;  and  by  the  same  act  all  appeals  to  Rome  were  again 
"  condemned.  If  any  party  found  themselves  aggrieved  in 
"  the  archbishops'  courts,  an  appeal  might  be  made  to  the 
"  king  in  the  court  of  chancery  ;  and  the  lord  chancellor  was 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  245 

148  "  to  grant  a  commission  under  the  great  seal  for  some  dele- 
"  gates,  in  whose  determination  all  must  acquiesce.  All  ex- 
"  empted  abbots  were  also  to  appeal  to  the  king  :  and  it  con- 
"  eluded  with  a  proviso,  that  till  such  correction  of  the  canons 
"  was  made,  all  those  which  were  then  received  should  still 
"  remain  in  force,  except  such  as  were  contrary  to  the  laws 
"  and  customs  of  the  realms,  or  were  to  the  damage  or  hurt 
"  of  the  king's  prerogative." 

This  proviso  seemed  to  have  a  fair  colour,  that  there  might 
still  be  some  canons  in  force  to  govern  the  church  by;  but 
since  there  was  no  day  prefixed  to  the  determination  of  the 
commission,  this  proviso  made  that  the  act  never  took  effect ; 
for  now  it  lay  in  the  prerogative,  and  in  the  judge's  breast,  to 
declare  what  canons  were  contrary  to  the  laws,  or  the  rights 
of  the  crown  :  and  it  was  judged  more  for  the  king's  greatness 
to  keep  the  matter  undetermined,  than  to  make  such  a  collec- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  laws  as  should  be  fixed  and  immovable. 
The  last  of  the  public  acts  of  this  session,  that  related  to  the 
church,  was  about  the  election  and  consecration  of  bishops. 
On  the  fourth  of  February  the  commons  sent  up  a  bill  to  the 
lords  about  the  consecration  of  bishops ;  it  lay  on  the  table  till 
the  twenty-seventh  of  February,  and  was  then  cast  out,  and  a 
new  one  drawn.     On  what  reason  it  was  cast  out,  is  not  men-  journal 
tioned ;  and  the  Journal  does  not  so  much  as  say  that  it  was  fT0^eT^ 
once  read.     The  new  bill  had  its  second  reading  the  third  of 
March,  and  on  the  fifth  it  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed ;  and 
on  the  ninth  it  was  read  the  third  time,  and  agreed  to,  and 
sent  down  to  the  commons,  who  returned  it  to  the  lords  on  the 
sixteenth  of  March.     "  The  first  part  of  it  is  a  confirmation  of  Act  about 
"  their  former  act  against  annates ;  to  which  they  added,  that  b^j^^'-0 
"  bishops  should  not  be  any  more  presented  to  the  bishop  of  20  in  the 
"  Rome,  or  sue  out  any  bulls  there,  but  that  all  bishops  should  Book,  26  in 
"  be  presented   to  the  archbishop,   and   archbishops   to   any  theEecord. 
"  archbishop  in  the  king's  dominions,  or  to  any  four  bishops  Vol.  iii.  p. 
11  whom  the  king  should  name  ;  and,  that,  when  any  see  was  46a-l 
"  vacant,  the  king  was  to  grant  a  license  for  a  new  election, 
"  with  a  letter  missive,  bearing  the  name  of  the  person  that 
"  was  to  be  chosen :    and  twelve  days  after  these  were  de- 
"  livered,  an   election  was  to  be  returned  by  the  dean  and 
"  chapter,  or  prior  and  convent,  under  their  seals.     Then  the 


246 


THE    HISTORY  OF 


[part 


[ibid.  p. 
483.] 
Collect. 
Numb.  48. 


The  act 
about  the 
Maid  of 
Kent  and 
her  com- 
plices. 
12  in  Sta- 
tute-Book . 
31  in  the 
Record, 
7  in  the 
Journal, 
[ibid.  p. 
446.] 


"  person  elected  was  to  swear  fealty  to  the  king,  upon  which 
11  a  commission  was  to  be  issued  out  for  consecrating  and  in- 
' c  vesting  him  with  the  usual  ceremonies ;  after  which,  he  was 
"  to  do  homage  to  the  king,  and  be  restored  both  to  the  spirit- 
"  ualities  and  temporalities  of  his  see,  for  which  the  king 
"  granted  commissions  during  the  vacancy  :  and  whosoever 
"  refused  to  obey  the  contents  of  the  act,  or  acted  contrary  to 
11  it,  were  declared  within  the  statute  of  prcemunire."  There 
passed  a  private  act  for  depriving  the  bishops  of  Salisbury  and 
Worcester  ;  who  were,  cardinal  Campeggio  and  Jerome  de 
Ghinucci :  the  former  deserved  greater  severities  at  the  king's 
hand  ;  but  the  latter  seems  to  have  served  him  faithfully,  and 
was  recommended  both  by  the  king  and  the  French  king, 
about  a  year  before,  to  a  cardinal's  hat.  u  The  preamble  of 
"  the  act  bears,  that  persons  promoted  to  ecclesiastical  bene- 
"  fices  ought  to  reside  within  the  kingdom,  for  preaching  the 
"  laws  of  Almighty  God,  and  for  keeping  hospitality  ;  and 
"  since  these  prelates  did  not  that,  but  lived  at  the  court  of 
"  Rome,  and  neglected  their  dioceses,  and  made  the  revenues 
"  of  them  be  carried  out  of  the  kingdoms,  contrary  to  the 
"  intentions  of  the  founders,  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the  149 
"  realm,  three  thousand  pounds  being  at  least  carried  yearly 
"  out  of  the  kingdom  ;  therefore  their  dioceses  were  declared 
"  vacant." 

But  now  I  come  to  the  act  of  the  attainder  of  Elizabeth 
Barton,  and  her  complices,  which  I  shall  open  fully,  since  it 
was  the  first  step  that  was  made  to  rebellion,  and  the  first 
occasion  of  putting  any  to  death  upon  this  quarrel ;  and  from 
it  one  will  clearly  see  the  genius  of  that  part  of  the  clergy 
that  adhered,  to  the  interests  of  the  court  of  Rome.  On  the 
twenty-first  of  February  the  bill  was  sent  up  to  the  lords,  aud 
read  the  first  time  ;  on  the  twenty-sixth  it  was  read  the  second 
time,  and  committed  ;  then  the  witnesses  and  other  evidences 
were  brought  before  them,  but  chiefly  she  with  all  her  com- 
plices, who  confessed  the  crimes  charged  on  her.  It  was 
reported  and  read  the  sixth  of  March  the  third  time,  and  then 
the  lords  addressed  to  the  king  to  know  his  pleasure,  whether 
sir  Thomas  More,  and  others,  mentioned  in  the  act  as  com- 
plices, or  at  least  concealers,  might  not  be  heard  to  speak  for 
themselves  in  the  star-chamber  :  as  for  the  bishop  of  Rochester, 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  247 

he  was  sick,  but  he  had  written  to  the  house  all  that  he  had 
to  say  for  his  own  excuse.     What  presumptions  lay  against  sir 
Thomas  More,  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  out,  only  that  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  Nun,  at  which  the  king  took  great  excep-  See  his 
tions ;  yet  it  appears  he  had  a  mean  opinion  of  her,  for  in   ^^[oe. 
discourse  with  his  beloved  daughter  mistress  Roper,  he  called  [ed.  Lond. 
her  commonly  the  silly  Nun.     But,  for  justifying  himself,  he  I55/J 
wrote  a  full  account  of  all  the  intercourse  he  had  with  the  Nun 
and   her  complices   to    Cromwell :    but  though,   by  his  other 
printed  letters,  both  to  Cromwell  and  the  king,  it  seems  some  [ibid.  pp. 
ill  impressions  remained  in  the  king's  mind  about  it,  he  still  l422   !l  J 
continued  to  justify,  not  only  his  intentions,  but  his  actions  in 
that  particular.     One  thing  is   not   unworthy  of  observation, 
that  Rastal,  who  published  his  works  in  queen  Mary's  time, 
printed,  the  second  letter  he  wrote  to  Cromwell,  yet  did  not 
publish  that  account  which  he  sent  first  to  him  concerning  it,  to 
which  More  refers  himself  in  all  his  following  letters ;  though 
it  is  more  like  a  copy  of  that  would  have  been  preserved, 
than  of  those  other  letters  that  refer  to  it.     But  perhaps  it 
was  kept  up  on  design ;  for  in  queen  Mary's  time  they  had  a 
mind  to  magnify  that  story  of  the  Nun's,  since  she  was  thought 
to  have   suffered  on  her  mother's  account :    and  among  the 
other  things  she  talked,  one  was,  that  the  lady  Mary  should 
one  day  reign  in  England,  for  which  Sanders  has  since  thought  [Sanders, 
fit  to  make  a  prophetess  of  her.     And  it  is  certain  More  had  p"   °'-' 
a  low  opinion  of  her,  which   appears  in  many  places  of  his 
printed  letters ;  but  that  would  have  been  much  plainer,  if  that 
full  account  he  wrote  of  that  affair  had  been  published  :  and 
therefore,  that  one  of  their  martyrs  might  not  lessen  the  esteem 
of  another,  it  was  fit  to  suppress  it.     Whether  my  conjectures 
in  this  be  well  grounded  or  not,  is  left  to  the  reader's  judg- 
ment.    In  conclusion,  More's  justifications,  seconded  Avith  the 
good  offices  that  the  lord  chancellor  Audley  and  Cromwell  did 
him,  (who,  as  appears  by  his  letters,  stood  his  friends  in  that 
matter,)  did  so  work  on  the  king,  that  his  name  was  put  out 
of  the  bill,  and  so  the  act  was  agreed  on  by  both  houses,  and 
the  royal  assent  followed.     The  matter  was  this:  "  Elizabeth  [Hall,  p. 
•      "  Barton  of  Kent,  in  the  parish  of  Aldington,  being  sick  and  8o8l 
150  "  distempered  in  her  brain,  fell  in  some  trances,  (it  seems  by 
"  the  symptoms  they  were  hysterical  fits.)  and  spoke   many 


248  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

words  that  made  great  impressions  on  some  about  her,  who 
thought  her  inspired  of  God ;  and  Richard  Master,  parson 
of  the  parish,  hoping  to  draw  great  advantages  from  this, 
went  to  Warham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  gave  him  a 
large  account  of  her  speeches,  who  ordered  him  to  attend 
her  carefully,  and  bring  him  a  further  report  of  any  new 
trances  she  might  afterwards  fall  in.  But  she  had  forgot  all 
she  had  said  in  her  fits  ;  yet  the  crafty  priest  would  not  let 
it  go  so,  but  persuaded  her,  that  what  she  had  said  was  by 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  she  ought  to 
own  that  it  was  so.  Upon  which  he  taught  her  to  counter- 
feit such  trances,  and  to  utter  such  speeches  as  she  had  done 
before ;  so  that,  after  a  while's  practice,  she  became  very 
ready  at  it.  The  thing  was  much  noised  abroad,  and  many 
came  to  see  her ;  but  the  priest  had  a  mind  to  raise  Jhe  re- 
putation of  an  image  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  that  was  in  a 
chapel  within  his  parish,  that  so,  pilgrimages  being  made  to 
it,  he  might  draw  these  advantages  from  it,  that  others  made 
from  their  famed  images  ;  but  chose  for  his  associate  one 
doctor  Booking,  a  canon52  of  Christ  Church  in  Canterbury  : 
upon  which  they  instructed  her  to  say  in  her  counterfeited 
trances,  that  the  blessed  Virgin  had  appeared  to  her,  and 
told  her  she  could  never  recover,  till  she  went  and  visited 
her  image  in  that  chapel.  They  had  also  taught  her  in  her 
fits  to  make  strange  motions  with  her  body,  by  which  she 
was  much  disfigured,  and  to  speak  many  godly  words  against 
sin,  and  the  new  doctrines,  which  were  called  heresies ;  as 
also  against  the  king's  suit  of  divorce.  It  was  also  noised 
abroad,  on  what  day  she  intended  to  go  and  visit  the  image 
of  the  Virgin,  so  that  about  two  thousand  people  were . 
gathered  together;  and  she,  being  brought  to  the  chapel, 
fell  into  her  fits,  and  made  many  strange  grimaces  and  alter- 
ations of  her  body,  and  spake  many  words  of  great  piety, 
saying,  that  by  the  inspiration  of  God  she  was  called  to  be  a 
religious  woman,  and  that  Booking  was  to  be  her  ghostly 
father.  And  within  a  little  while  she  seemed,  by  the  inter- 
cession of  our  Lady,  to  be  perfectly  recovered  of  her  former 
distempers,   and  she  afterwards  professed  a  religious   life. 

52  Booking  is  called  a  canon  of     there  were  then  no  canons  in  that 
Christ's  church  in  Canterbury.  But     church,  they  were  all  monks.  [F.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534-)  ^49 

"  There  were  also  violent  suspicions  of  her  incontinency,  and 
"  that  Booking  was  a  carnal,  as  well  as  a  spiritual  father.  She 
"  fell  in  many  raptures,  and  pretended  she  saw  strange  visions, 
"  heard  heavenly  melody,  and  had  the  revelation  of  many 
"  things  that  were  to  come ;  so  that  great  credit  was  given 
<c  to  what  she  said,  and  people  generally  looked  on  her  as  a 
"  prophetess,  and  among  those  the  late  archbishop  of  Canter- 
"  bury  was  led  away  with  the  rest.  A  book  was  writ  of  her 
"  revelations  and  prophecies  by  one  Deering,  another  monk, 
"  who  was  taken  into  the  conspiracy,  with  many  others.  It 
"  was  also  given  out,  that  Mary  Magdalen  gave  her  a  letter 
"  that  was  writ  in  heaven,  which  was  shewed  to  many,  being 
"  all  writ  in  golden  letters.  She  pretended,  when  the  king 
"  was  last  at  Calais,  that  he  being  at  mass,  an  angel  brought 
"  away  the  sacrament  and  gave  it  to  her,  being  then  invisibly 
"  present,  and  that  she  was  presently  brought  over  the  sea  to 
"  her  monastery  again.  But  the  design  of  all  these  trances 
151  "  was  to  alienate  the  people  from  their  duty  to  the  king :  for 
"  the  Maid  gave  it  out,  that  God  revealed  to  her,  that  if  the 
"  king  went  on  in  the  divorce,  and  married  another  wife,  he 
"  should  not  be  king  a  month  longer,  and  in  the  reputation 
"  of  Almighty  God  not  one  hour  longer,  but  shoidd  die  a 
"  villain's  death.  This,  she  said,  was  revealed  to  her  in  an- 
11  swer  to  the  prayers  she  had  put  up  to  God,  to  know  whether 
"  he  approved  of  the  king's  proceedings,  or  not  ?  Which 
"  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  and 
"  some  others,  who  adhered  to  the  queen's  interests,  they  had 
"  frequent  meetings  with  the  Maid,  and  concealed  what  she 
"  spake  concerning  the  king ;  and  some  of  them  gave  such 
"  credit  to  what  she  said,  that  they  practised  on  many  others 
"  to  draw  them  from  their  allegiance,  and  prevailed  with 
"  several  of  the  fathers  and  nuns  of  Sion,  of  the  charter-house 
"  in  London,  and  Shene,  and  of  the  Observants  of  Richmond, 
"  Greenwich,  and  Canterbury,  with  a  great  many  other  per- 
"  sons." 

This  appeared  most  signally  at  Greenwich,  where  the  king  The  Lnso- 
lived  most  in  summer  :  for  one  Pcto,  being  to  preach  in  the  lence  °£ 

.  ■  .  .    some  or 

king's  chapel,  denounced   heavy  judgments  upon  him  to   his  the  friars, 
face,  and  told  him,  that  many  lying  prophets  had  deceived  Stow. 
him;  but  he,  as  a  true  Micaiah,  warned  him,  that   the  dogs^'  ' '     •• 


250  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

should  lick  his  blood  as  they  had  done  Ahab's ;  (for  that 
prophecy  about  Ahab  was  his  text ;)  with  many  other  bitter 
words  :  and  concluded,  that  it  was  the  greatest  misery  of 
princes,  to  be  daily  so  abused  by  flatterers  as  they  were. 
The  king  bore  it  patiently,  and  expressed  no  signs  of  any  com- 
motion ;  but,  to  undeceive  the  people,  he  took  care  that  Dr. 
Corren,  or  Curwin,  should  preach  next  Sunday,  who  justified 
the  king's  proceedings,  and  condemned  Peto  as  a  rebel,  a 
slanderer,  a  dog,  and  a  traitor.  Peto  was  gone  to  Canterbury  ; 
but  another  Observant  friar  of  the  same  house,  Elston,  inter- 
rupted him,  and  said,  he  was  one  of  the  lying  prophets,  that 
sought  by  adultery  to  establish  the  succession  to  the  crown, 
and  that  he  would  justify  all  that  Peto  had  said,  and  spake  . 
many  other  things  with  great  vehemency ;  nor  could  they 
silence  him,  till  the  king  himself  commanded  him  to  hold  his 
peace.  And  yet  all  that  was  done  either  to  him  or  Peto  was, 
that,  being  called  before  the  privy-council,  they  were  rebuked 
for  their  insolence ;  by  which  it  appears,  that  king  Henry  was 
not  very  easily  inflamed  against  them,  when  a  crime  of  so 
high  a  nature  was  so  slightly  passed  over53. 

"  Nor  was  this  all ;  but  the  fathers  that  were  in  the  con- 
"  spiracy  had  confederated  to  publish  these  revelations  in  their 
"  sermons  up  and  down  the  kingdom.  They  had  also  given 
"  notice  of  them  to  the  pope's  ambassadors,  and  had  brought 
"  the  Maid  to  declare  her  revelations  to  them  ;  they  had  also 
"  sent  an  account  to  queen  Catharine,  for  encouraging  her  to 
"  stand  out  and  not  submit  to  the  laws  ;  of  which  confederacy 
Stow/  "  Thomas  Abel  was  likewise  one."  The  thing  that  was  in  so 
[p-  569]  many  hands  could  not  be  a  secret ;  therefore  the  king,  who 
had  despised  it  long,  ordered  that  in  November  the  former 
year,  the  Maid  and  her  complices,  Richard  Master,  doctor 
Booking,  Richard  Deering,  Henry  Gold,  a  parson  in  London, 
Hugh  Rich,  an  Observant  friar,  Richard  Risby,  Thomas  Gold, 
and  Edward  Thwaites,  gentlemen,  and  Thomas  Laurence, 
should  be  brought  into  the  star-chamber,  where  there  was  a 
great  appearance  of  many  lords :    they  were  examined  upon 

53  It  was  not  passed  over ;    for  after  that,  none  durst  openly  oppose 

Stow  says  (p.  561)  these  friars  and  themselves  against  the  king's  affec- 

all   the    rest   of    that    order,    were  tions.   [B.] 
shortly  after  banished  ;  —  and  that 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  251 

152  the  premises,  and  did  all,  without  any  rack  or  torture,  confess 
the  whole  conspiracy,  and  were  adjudged  to  stand  in  Paul's  all 
the  sermon-time  ;  and  after  sermon  the  king's  officers  were  to 
give  every  one  of  them  his  bill  of  confession  to  be  openly  read 
before  the  people ;  which  was  done  next  Sunday,  the  bishop 
of  Bangor  preaching,  they  being  all  set  in  a  scaffold  before 
him.  This  public  manner  was  thought,  upon  good  grounds, 
to  be  the  best  way  to  satisfy  the  people  of  the  imposture  of  the 
whole  matter,  and  it  did  very  much  convince  them,  that  the 
cause  must  needs  be  bad,  where  such  methods  were  used  to 
support  it.  From  thence  they  were  carried  to  the  Tower, 
where  they  lay  till  the  session  of  parliament ;  but  when  they 
lay  there,  some  of  their  complices  sent  messages  to  the  Nun, 
to  encourage  her  to  deny  all  that  she  had  said ;  and  it  is  very 
probable,  that  the  reports  that  went  abroad  of  her  being 
forced  or  cheated  into  a  confession,  made  the  king  think  it 
necessary  to  proceed  more  severely  against  her.  The  thing 
being  considered  in  parliament,  it  was  judged  a  conspiracy 
against  the  king's  life  and  crown.  So  the  Nun,  and  Master, 
Booking,  Deering,  Rich,  Risby,  and  Henry  Gold,  were  at- 
tainted of  high  treason.  And  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  Thomas 
Gold,  Thomas  Laurence,  Edward  Thwaites,  John  Adeson,  and 
Thomas  Abel,  were  judged  guilty  of  misprision  of  treason,  and 
to  forfeit  their  goods  and  chattels  to  the  king,  and  to  be  im- 
prisoned during  his  pleasure :  and  all  the  books  that  were 
written  of  her  revelations  were  ordered  to  be  sent  in  to  some 
of  the  chief  officers  of  state,  under  the  pains  of  line  and  im- 
prisonment. It  had  been  also  found,  that  the  letter,  which 
she  pretended  to  have  got  from  Mary  Magdalen,  was  written 
by  one  Hawkhurst  of  Canterbury ;  and  that  the  door  of  the 
dormitory,  which  was  given  out  to  be  made  open  by  miracle, 
that  she  might  go  into  the  chapel  for  converse  with  God,  was 
opened  by  some  of  her  complices  for  beastly  and  carnal  ends. 
But,  in  the  conclusion  of  the  act,  all  others  who  had  been  cor- 
rupted in  their  allegiance  by  these  impostures,  except  the 
persons  before  named,  were,  at  the  earnest  intercession  of 
queen  Anne,  pardoned. 

The  two  houses  of  parliament  (having  ended  their  business) 
were  prorogued  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  March  to  the  third  of  [March  30. 

Tournils  of 

November;    and   before  they  broke  up,  all  the  members  of ]0rds,p.8i.] 


252  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

both  houses,  that  they  might  give  a  good  example  to  the  king's 

other  subjects,  swore  the  oath  of  succession,  as  appears  from 

the  act  made  about  it  in  the  next  session  of  parliament.     The 

execution  of  these  persons  was  delayed  for  some  time ;   it  is 

like,,  till  the  king  had  a  return  from  Rome  of  the  messenger 

he  had  sent  thither  with  his  submission. 

[April  21.        Soon  after  that,  on  the  twentieth  of  April,  the  Nun,  and 

814.]  Booking,   Master,   Dcering,   Risby,    and   Gold,   (Rich    is   not 

named,  being  perhaps  either  dead  or  pardoned,)  were  brought 

The  Nun's  to  Tyburn.     The  Nun  spake  these  words :  Hither  I  am*  come 

her  death.    t°  die ;  and  I  have  not  been  only  theb  cause  of  mine  own  death, 

Hall  which  most  justly  I  have  deserved,  but  also  I  am  the  cause 

[ibid.]  J         J  ' 

of  the  death  of  all  those0  j^^sons,  which  at  this  time  here 
suffer.  And  yet,  to  say  the  truth,  I  am  not  so  much  to  be 
blamed,  considering  that  it  was  well  known  tod  these  learned 
men  that  I  ivas  a  poor  wench,  without  learning ;  and  there- 
fore they  might  easily  havee  perceived,  that  the  things  that 
ivere  done  by  me  could  not  proceed  in  no  such  sort ;  but  their 
capacities  and  learning  could  light  ivell  judge  from  whence  153 
they  proceeded,  and  that  they  were  altogether  feigned :  but 
because  the  thing f  which  I  feigned  ivas  profitable  tos  them, 
therefore  they  much  praised  me;  and  bore^  me  in  hand,  that 
it  ivas  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  I,  that  did  them ;  and  then 
I,  being  puffed  up  with  their  praises,  fell  into  a  certain  pride 
and  foolish  fantasy  with  myself,  and  thought  I  might  feign 
what  I  would ;  which  thing  hath  brought  me  to  this  case : 
and  for  the  which  now  I  cry  God  anoT  the  king's  highness 
most  heartily  mercy,  and  desire  you  all'1,  good  people,  to  pray 
to  God  to  have  mercy  on  me,  and  on  all  them  that  here  suffer 
with  me. 
[Sanders,  On  all  this  I  have  dwelt  the  longer,  both  because  these  are 
p'  °'J  all  called  martyrs  by  Sanders,  and  that  this  did  first  provoke 
the  king  against  the  regular  clergy,  and  drew  after  it  all  the 
severities  that  were  done  in  the  rest  of  his  reign.  The  foulness 
and  the  wicked  designs  of  this  imposture  did  much  alienate 
people  from  the  interest  of  Rome,  and  made  the  other  acts 
both  pass  more  easily,  and  be  better  received  by  the  people. 

a  [am  I  Hall.]  b  [the  only  lb.]  c  [these  lb.]  (1  [unto  lb.] 

c  [have  easily  lb.]  f  [things  lb.]  s  [unto  lb.]  h  [bare  lb.] 

'  [all  you  lb.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  253 

It  was  also  generally  believed,  that  what  was  now  discovered 
was  no  new  practice,  but  that  many  of  the  visions  and  miracles, 
by  which  religious  orders  had  raised  their  credit  so  high,  were 
of  the  same  nature :  and  it  made  way  for  the  destroying  of  all 
the  monasteries  in  England,  though  all  the  severity  which  at  Stow. 
this  time  followed  on  it  was,  that  the  Observant  friars  of  Rich- Lp' 5' 
mond,  Greenwich,  Canterbury,  Newark,  and  Newcastle,  were 
removed  out  of  their  houses,  and  put  with  the  other  Gray 
friars ;   and  Augustin  friars  were  put  in  their  houses. 

But  because  of  the  great  name  of  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester, 
and  since  this  was  the  first  step  to  his  ruin,  it  is  necessary  to 
give  a  fuller  account  of  his  carriage  in  this  matter.     When  the  Fisher 
cheat  was  first  discovered,  Cromwell,  then  secretary  of  state,  deal/ 
sent  the  bishop's  brother  to  him,  with  a  sharp   reproof  for  with ; 
his  carriage  in  that  business ;  but  withal  advised  him  to  write 
to   the   king,    and   acknowledge   his   offence,   and   desire    his 
pardon,  which  he   knew  the  king,  considering  his  age  and 
sickness,  would  grant.     But  he  wrote  back,  excusing  himself,  But  is  ob- 
that  all  he  did  was  only  to  try  whether  her  revelations  were  intraCtab"e. 
true :    he    confessed,    he    conceived   a   great    opinion    of  her 
holiness,   both   from    common    fame,   and   her   entering   into 
religion  ;  from   the  report  of  her   ghostly  father,    whom    he 
esteemed  learned  and  religious,  and  of  many  other  learned 
and  virtuous  priests ;    from  the  good  opinion  the  late  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  had  of  her ;  and  from  what  is  in  the 
prophet  Amos,  that  God  ivill  do  nothing  without  revealing  [Amos  iii. 
it  to  his  servants.     That,  upon  these  grounds,  he  was  induced  ' 
to  have  a  good  opinion  of  her  ;    and  that,  to  try  the  truth 
about  her,  he  had  sometimes  spoken  with  her,  and  sent  his 
chaplains  to  her,  but  never  discovered  any  falsehood  in  her. 
And  for  his  concealing  what  she  had  told  him  about  the  king, 
which  was  laid  to  his  charge,  he  thought  it  needless  for  him  to 
speak  of  it  to  the  king,  since  she  had  said  to  him,  that  she  had 
told  it  to  the  king  herself:   she  had  named  no  person  who 
should  kill  the  king,  which,  by  being  known,  might  have  been 
prevented.     And  as  in  spiritual  things  every  churchman  was 
not  bound  to  denounce  judgments  against  those  that  could  not 
bear  it ;  so  in  temporal  things  the  case  may  be  the  same ;  and 
the  king  had,  on  other  occasions,  spoken  so  sharply  to  him, 
154  that  he  had  reason  to  think  the  king  would  have  been  offended 


254 


THE    HISTORY    OF 


[part  I. 


Collect. 
Numb.  49. 
Cott.  libr. 
Cleopat. 
E.  iv.  [fol. 
85-] 


with  him  for  speaking  of  it,  and  would  have  suspected  that  he 
had  a  hand  in  it ;  therefore  he  desired,  for  the  passion  of 
Christ,  to  be  no  more  troubled  about  that  matter  ;  otherwise 
he  would  speak  his  conscience  freely.  To  all  which  Cromwell 
wrote  a  long  letter,  which  the  reader  will  find  in  the  Collection, 
copied  from  the  rude  draught  of  it,  written  with  his  own  hand. 
In  which  he  charges  the  matter  upon  him  heavily,  and  shews 
him,  that  he  had  not  proceeded  as  a  grave  prelate  ought  to 
have  done ;  for  he  had  taken  all  that  he  had  heard  of  her 
upon  trust,  and  had  examined  nothing :  that  if  every  person 
that  pretends  to  revelations  were  believed  on  their  own  words, 
all  government  would  be  thereby  destroyed.  He  had  no 
reason  to  conclude,  from  the  prophecy  of  Amos,  that  every 
thing  that  is  to  fall  out  must  be  revealed  to  some  prophet, 
since  many  notable  things  had  fallen  out,  of  which  there  was 
no  revelation  made  beforehand.  But  he  told  him,  the  true 
reason  that  made  him  give  credit  to  her  was,  the  matter  of 
her  prophecies  :  to  which  he  was  so  addicted,  as  he  was  to 
every  other  thing  in  which  he  once  entered,  that  nothing 
could  come  amiss  that  served  to  that  end.  And  lie  appealed 
to  his  conscience,  whether,  if  she  had  prophesied  for  the  king, 
he  would  have  given  such  easy  credit  to  her,  and  not  have 
examined  the  matter  further.  Then  he  shews  how  guilty 
he  was  in  not  revealing  what  concerned  the  king's  life,  and 
how  frivolous  all  his  excuses  were :  and,  after  all,  tells  him, 
that  though  his  excusing  the  matter  had  provoked  the  king, 
and  that,  if  it  came  to  a  trial,  he  would  certainly  be  found 
guilty  ;  yet  again  he  advises  him  to  beg  the  king's  pardon  for 
his  negligence  and  offence  in  that  matter,  and  undertakes  that 
the  king  would  receive  him  into  his  favour,  and  that  all 
matters  of  displeasure,  passed  before  that  time,  should  be 
forgiven  and  forgotten.  This  shews,  that  though  Fisher  had, 
in  the  progress  of  the  king's  cause,  given  him  great  offence, 
yet  he  was  ready  to  pass  it  all  over,  and  not  to  take  the 
advantage  which  he  now  had  against  him.  But  Fisher  was 
still  obstinate,  and  made  no  submission,  and  so  was  included 
within  the  act  for  misprision  of  treason  ;  and  yet  I  do  not  find 
that  the  king  proceeded  against  him  upon  this  act,  till  by  new 
provocations  he  drew  a  heavier  storm  of  indignation  upon 
himself. 


book  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1534.)  255 

When  the  session  of  parliament  was  at  an  end,  commissioners  The  oath 
were  sent  every  where  to  offer  the  oath  of  the  succession  to  "'    !!!• 

w  succession 

the  crown  to  all,  according  to  the  act  of  parliament,  which  was  generally 
universally   taken  by  all  sorts   of  persons.     Gardiner    wrote  orio-.  Cott. 
from  Winchester,  the  sixth  of  May,  to  Cromwell,  that,  in  the  libr-  0tno 
presence  of  the  lord  chamberlain,  the  lord  Audley,  and  many  [fol.171.] 
other  gentlemen,  all  abbots,  priors,  wardens,  with  the  curates  tMa,y^ 
of  all  parishes  and  chapels  within  the  shire,  had  appeared  and 
taken  the  oath  very  obediently  ;  and  had  given  in  a  list  of  all 
the  religious  persons  in  their  houses  of  fourteen  years  of  age, 
and  above,  for  taking  whose  oaths  some  commissioners  were 
appointed.     The  forms  in  which  they  took  the  oath  are  not 
known  ;  and  it  is  no  wonder  ;  for  though  they  were  enrolled, 
yet  in  queen   Mary's  time   there  was  a  commission  given  to 
155  Bonner  and  others,   to   examine    the  records,   and    raze   out 
of  them  all  things  that  were  done,  either  in  contempt  of  the 
see  of  Rome,  or  to  the  defamation  of  religious  houses  ;  pursuant 
to  which,  there  are  many  things  taken  out  of  the  Rolls,  which 
I  shall  sometimes  have  occasion  afterwards  to  take  notice  of : 
yet  some    writings  have    escaped   their    diligence ;    so   there 
remain  but  two  of  the  subscriptions  of  religious  orders,  both 
bearing  date  the  fourth  of  May  1534.     One  is  by  the  prior 
and  convent  of  Langley  Regis,  that  were  Dominicans ;    the 
Franciscans  of  Aylesbury,  the  Dominicans  of  Dunstable,  the 
Franciscans  of  Bedford,  the  Carmelites  of  Hecking,  and  the 
Franciscans   de   Mare.     The   other   is   by   the   prioress   and 
convent  of  the  Dominican  nuns  at  Deptford55. 

"  In  these,   besides  the  renewing  their  allegiance   to    the  Collect. 
"  king,  they  swear  the  lawfulness  of  his  marriage  with  queen  E™(1j^ 
"  Anne,  and  that  they  shall  be  true  to  the  issue  begotten  in  it ; 
"  that  they  shall  always  acknowledge  the  king  head  of  the 
"  church  of  England  ;    and  that  the  bishop  of  Rome  has  no 
"  more  power  than  any  other  bishop  has  in  his  own  diocese  ; 
"  and  that  they  should  submit  to  all  the  king's  laws,  notwith- 
"  standing  the  pope's  censures  to  the  contrary.     That  in  their  Those  last 
"  sermons  they  should  not  pervert  the  scriptures,  but  preach  nXiiTt'hT 

"  Christ  and  his  gospel  sincerely,  according  to  the  scriptures,  other 

writing. 

55   I  suppose   it   should    be   the     p.  448,    Dugdale,    Mon.   vol.  ii.  p. 
prioress  and  convent  at  Dartford,  of     357.    [B.] 
the  order  of  St.  Austin.  Lambard, 


256 


THE    HISTORY   OF 


[PART  I. 


More  and 
Fisher  re- 
fuse the 
oath. 


See  his 
Works, 
p.  1528.] 


[Ibid.  p. 

1429.] 


"  and  the  tradition  of  orthodox  and  catholic  doctors  ;  and  in 
"  their  prayers,  that  they  should  pray  first  for  the  king,  as 
"  supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England,  then  for  the  queen 
"  and  her  issue,  and  then  for  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
"  and  the  other  ranks  of  the  clergy."  To  this  these  six  priors 
set  their  hands,  with  the  seals  of  their  convents ;  and  in  their 
subscriptions  declared,  that  they  did  it  freely  and  uncompelled, 
and  in  the  name  of  all  the  brethren  in  the  convent. 

But  sir  Thomas  More  and  the  bishop  of  Rochester  refused 
to  take  the  oath  as  it  was  conceived :  whose  fall  being  so 
remarkable,  I  shall  shew  the  steps  of  it.  There  was  a  meeting 
of  the  privy  council  at  Lambeth56,  to  which  many  were  cited 
to  appear,  and  take  the  oath.  Sir  Thomas  More  was  first 
called,  and  the  oath  was  tendered  to  him  under  the  great  seal : 
then  he  called  for  the  act  of  succession,  to  which  it  related, 
which  was  also  shewed  him.  Having  considered  of  them,  he 
said,  he  would  neither  blame  these  that  made  the  act,  nor 
those  that  swore  the  oath;  but,  for  his  part,  though  he  was 
willing  to  swear  to  the  succession,  if  he  might  be  suffered 
to  draw  an  oath  concerning  it ;  yet  for  the  oath  that  was 
offered  him,  his  conscience  so  moved  him,  that  he  could  not 
without  hazarding  his  soul  take  it.  Upon  this  the  lord 
chancellor  told  him,  that  he  was  the  first  who  had  refused  to 
swear  it,  and  that  the  king  would  be  highly  offended  with  him 
for  denying  it ;  and  so  he  was  desired  to  withdraw  and 
consider  better  of  it.  Several  others  were  called  upon,  and 
did  all  take  the  oath,  except  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  who 
answered  upon  the  matter  as  More  had  done.  When  the 
lords  had  despatched  all  the  rest,  More  was  again  brought 
before  them  :  they  shewed  him  how  many  had  taken  it  : 
he  answered,  he  judged  no  man  for  doing  it,  only  he  could  not 
do  it  himself.  Then  they  asked  the  reasons  why  he  refused 
it :  he  answered,  he  feared  it  might  provoke  the  king  more 
against  him,  if  he  should  offer  reasons,  which  would  be  called 
a  disputing  against  law :  but  when  he  was  further  pressed 
to  give  his  reasons,  he  said,  if  the  king  would  command  him  to  156 
do  it,  he  would  put  them  in  writing. 


56  Not  privy  council  as  I  suppose ;  abbot  of  Westminster  I  suppose 
for  it  is  there  said,  he  came  before  was  no  privy  counsellor,  though  be 
the    king's     commissioners.      The     were  a  commissioner.     [B.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  257 

The  archbishop  of  Canterbury  urged  him  with  this  argu- 
ment, That  since  he  said  he  blamed  no  other  person  for  taking 
it.  it  seemed  he  was  not  persuaded  it  was  a  sin,  but  was 
doubtful  in  the  matter  :  but  he  did  certainly  know,  he  ought 
to  obey  the  king  and  the  law  ;  so  there  was  a  certainty  on  the 
one  hand,  and  only  a  doubt  on  the  other ;  therefore  he  was 
obliged  to  do  that  about  which  he  was  certain,  notwithstanding 
these  his  doubtings.  This  did  shake  him  a  little,  especially  (as 
himself  writes)  coming  out  of  so  noble  a  prelate 's  mouth  :  but 
he  answered,  that  though  he  had  examined  the  matter  very 
carefully,  yet  his  conscience  leaned  positively  to  the  other  side  ; 
and  he  offered  to  purge  himself  by  his  oath,  that  it  was  purely 
out  of  a  principle  of  conscience,  and  out  of  no  light  fantasy  or 
obstinacy,  that  he  thus  refused  it.  The  abbot  of  Westminster  [ibid.  p. 
pressed  him,  that  however  the  matter  appeared  to  him,  he  '4.'°] 
might  see  his  conscience  was  erroneous,  since  the  great  council 
of  the  realm  was  of  another  mind  ;  and  therefore  he  ought  to 
change  his  conscience.  (A  reasoning  very  fit  for  so  rich  an 
abbot,  which  discovers  of  what  temper  his  conscience  was.) 
But  to  this  More  answered,  that  if  he  were  alone  against  the 
whole  parliament,  he  had  reason  to  suspect  his  own  under- 
standing ;  but  he  thought  he  had  the  whole  council  of  Christen- 
dom on  his  side,  as  well  as  the  great  council  of  England  was 
against  him.  Secretary  Cromwell,  who  (as  More  writes) 
tenderly  favoured  him,  seeing  his  ruin  was  now  inevitable, 
was  much  affected  at  it,  and  protested  with  an  oath,  he  had 
rather  his  only  son  had  lost  his  head,  than  that  he  should 
have  refused  the  oath.  Thus  both  he  and  the  bishop  of 
Rochester  refused  it ;  but  both  offered  to  swear  another  oath 
for  the  succession  of  the  crown  to  the  issue  of  the  king's 
present  marriage,  because  that  was  in  the  power  of  the  parlia- 
ment to  determine  it.  Cranmer,  who  was  a  moderate  and 
wise  man,  and  foresaw  well  the  ill  effects  that  would  follow  on 
contending  so  much  with  persons  so  highly  esteemed  over  the 
world,  and  of  such  a  temper,  that  severity  would  bend  them  to 
nothing,   did,   by  an    earnest   letter  to   Cromwell,  dated   the  Weaver's 

Monu- 
•r'7  [Ancient  Funerall  Monuments     Monasteries      therein      contained  ;  nieut*>  r, 
within    the    united    Monarchic    of     their   founders   and   what   eminent 
Great    Britaine,    Ireland,    and    the     persons  haue  beene  in  the  same  in- 
ilands  adjacent,  with  the  dissolued      terred,  &c.     London,  fol.  163 1.] 
BURNET,  PART  I.  S 


258 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


And  are 

proceeded 

against. 


Another 
session  of 
parlia- 
ment. 


The  king's 
supremacy 
declared. 
[Statutes, 
vol.  iii. 
p.  492.] 


The  oath 
about  the 
succession 
confirmed. 
[cap.  2. 
ibid.] 

The  first- 
fruits  of 
benefices 
given  to 
the  king, 
[ibid.  p. 
493] 


twenty-seventh  of  April,  move,  that  what  they  offered  might 
be  accepted ;  for  if  they  once  swore  to  the  succession,  it  would 
quiet  the  kingdom :  for  they  acknowledging  it,  all  other 
persons  would  acquiesce  and  submit  to  their  judgments.  But 
this  sage  advice  was  not  accepted. 

The  king  was  much  irritated  against  them,  and  resolved  to 
proceed  with  them  according  to  law  ;  and  therefore  they  were 
both  indicted  upon  the  statute,  and  committed  prisoners  to  the 
Tower.  And  it  being  apprehended,  that  if  they  had  books 
and  paper  given  them,  they  would  write  against  the  king's 
marriage  or  his  supremacy,  these  were  denied  them.  The  old 
bishop  Avas  hardly  used ;  his  bishopric  was  seized  on,  and  all 
his  goods  taken  from  him,  only  some  old  rags  were  left  to 
cover  him  ;  and  he  was  neither  supplied  well  in  diet  nor  other 
necessaries,  of  which  he  made  sad  complaints  to  Cromwell. 
But  the  remainder  of  this  tragical  business,  which  left  one 
of  the  greatest  blots  on  this  king's  proceedings,  falling  within 
the  limits  of  the  next  book,  I  haste  on  to  the  conclusion 
of  this. 

The  separation  from  Rome  was  made  in  the  former  session  157 
of  parliament,  but  the  king's  supremacy  was  not  yet  fully 
settled.  This  was  reserved  for  the  next  session,  that  sat 
in  November  from  the  third  of  that  month  to  the  eighteenth  of 
December,  about  which  we  can  have  no  light  from  the  Journals, 
they  being  lost.  The  first  act  confirmed  what  had  been 
already  acknowledged  by  the  clergy,  "  That  the  king  was  the 
"  supreme  head  in  earth  of  the  church  of  England,  which  was 
"  to  be  annexed  to  his  other  titles.  It  was  also  enacted,  that 
"  the  king,  and  his  heirs  and  successors,  should  have  power  to 
"  visit  and  reform  all  heresies,  errors,  and  other  abuses,  which 
"  in  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  ought  to  be  reformed." 

By  the  second  act  they  confirmed  the  oath  about  the  suc- 
cession, concerning  which  some  doubts  had  been  made,  because 
there  was  no  oath  specified  in  the  former  act,  though  both 
houses  had  taken  it :  it  was  now  enacted,  that  all  the  subjects 
were  obliged  to  take  it  when  offered  to  them,  under  the  pains 
contained  in  the  act  passed  in  the  former  session.  By  the 
third  act,  the  first-fruits  and  tenths  of  all  ecclesiastical  benefices 
were  given  to  the  king,  as  the  supreme  head  of  the  church. 
The  clergy  were  easily  prevailed  on  to  consent  to  the  putting 


book  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1534)  259 

down  of  the  annates,  paid  to  the  court  of  Rome  ;  for  all  men 
readily  concur  to  take  off  any  imposition  :  but  at  that  time  it 
had  perhaps  abated  much  of  their  heartiness,  if  they  had 
imagined  that  these  duties  should  have  been  still  paid  ;  there- 
fore that  was  kept  up  till  they  had  done  all  that  was  to  be 
done  against  Rome.  And  now,  as  the  commons  and  the  secular 
lords  would  no  doubt  easily  agree  to  lay  a  tax  on  the  clergy  ; 
so  the  others,  having  no  foreign  support,  were  not  in  a  con- 
dition to  wrestle  against  it. 

In  the  thirteenth  act,  among  other  things  that  were  made  Sundry 
treason,   one  was,   the   denying   the   king  the   dignity,    title,  declared 
or  name,  of  his  estate  royal ;   or  the  calling  the  king  heretic,  treason. 
schismatic,  tyrant,  infidel,  or  usurper  of  the  crown.     This  was  50s.] 
done  to  restrain  the  insolencies  of  some  friars :  and  all  such 
offenders  were  to  be  denied  the  privilege  of  sanctuaries.     By  An  act  for 
the  fourteenth  act,  provision  was  made  for  suffragan  bishops,  fV*agaD 
which,  as  is  said,  had  been  accustomed  to  be  had  within  this  [ibid.  p. 
realm,  for  the  more  speedy  administration  of  the  sacraments,  ?°9 '-' 
and  other  good,  wholesome,  and  devout  things,  and  laudable 
ceremonies,  to  the   increase  of  God's  honour,  and  for    the 
commodity  of  good  and  devout  people :  therefore  they  ap- 
pointed for  suffragans1  sees,  the  towns  of  Thetford,  Ipswich, 
Colchester,  Dover,  Guildford,  Southampton,  Taunton,  Shaftes- 
bury,  Molton,   Marlborough,   Bedford,   Leicester,   Gloucester, 
Shrewsbury,  Bristol,  Penrith,  Bridgewater,  Nottingham,  Gran- 
tham, Hull,  Huntingdon,  Cambridge  ;    and  the  towns  of  Perth 
and  Berwick,  St.  Germans  in  Cornwall,  and  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
For  these  sees,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  was  to  present  two 
to  the  king,  who  might  choose  either  of  them,  and  present  the 
person  so  named  to  the  archbishop  of  the  province  to  be  con- 
secrated :  after  which,  they  might  exercise  such  jurisdiction  as 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese  should  give  to  them,  or  as  suffragans 
had  been  formerly  used  to  do ;    but  their  authority  was  to  last 
no  longer  than  the  bishop  continued  his  commission  to  them. 
But,  that  the  reader  may  more  clearly  see  how  this  act  was 
executed,  he  shall  find  in  the  Collection  a  writ  for  making  Collect. 
158  a  suffragan  bishop.     These  were  believed  to  be  the  same  with  Numb-5r- 
the  Chorepiscopi  in  the  primitive  church  ;  which,  as  they  were 
begun  before  the  first  council  of  Nice,  so  they  continued  in  the 
western  church  till  the  ninth  century,  and  then  a  decretal  of 

s  2 


260 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Act.  26. 
Rot.  Pari, 
[p.  ccxliv.] 
A  subsidy 
granted, 
[cap.  19. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii.  p. 
516.] 


More  and 
Fisher  at- 
tainted. 
Act  3.  and 
4.  Rot. 
Pari, 
[p.  ccxliii. 
cap.  21. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii. 
P-527.] 


Damasus  being  forged,  that  condemned  them,  they  were  put 
down  every  where  by  degrees,  and  now  revived  in  England58. 
Then  followed  the  grant  of  a  subsidy  to  the  king.  It  was  now 
twelve  years  since  there  was  any  subsidy  granted.  A  fifteenth 
and  a  tenth  were  given,  to  be  paid  in  three  years,  the  final 
payment  being  to  be  at  Allhallowtide,  in  the  year  1537.  The 
bill  began  with  a  most  glorious  preamble  "  of  the  king's  high 
"  wisdom  and  policy  in  the  government  of  the  kingdom  these 
"  twenty-four  years  in  great  wealth  and  quietness,  and  the 
"  great  charges  he  had  been  at  in  the  last  war  with  Scotland, 
"  in  fortifying  Calais,  and  in  the  war  of  Ireland,  and  that  he 
"  intended  to  bring  the  wilful,  wild,  and  unreasonable  and 
"  savage  people  of  Ireland,  to  order  and  obedience ;  and 
"  intended  to  build  forts  on  the  marches  of  Scotland  for  the 
"  security  of  the  nation,  to  amend  the  haven  of  Calais,  and 
"  make  a  new  one  at  Dover.  By  all  which  they  did  perceive 
"  the  entire  love  and  zeal  which  the  king  bore  to  his  people, 
"  and  that  he  sought  not  their  wealth  and  quietness  only  for 
"  his  own  time,  being  a  mortal  man,  but  did  provide  for  it  in 
"  all  time  coming  :  therefore  they  thought  that  of  very  equity, 
"  reason,  and  good  conscience,  they  were  bound  to  shew  like 
"  correspondence  of  zeal,  gratitude,  and  kindness."  Upon  this 
the  king  sent  a  general  pardon,  with  some  exceptions  ordinary 
in  such  cases.  But  Fisher  and  More  were  not  only  excluded  from 
this  pardon  by  general  clauses,  but  by  two  particular  acts  they 
were  attainted  of  misprision  of  treason.  By  the  third  act, 
according  to  the  record,  John  bishop  of  Rochester,  Christopher 
Plumer,  Nicolas  Wilson,  Edward  Powell,  Richard  Fether- 
ston,  and  Miles  Wyllen,  clerks,  were  attainted  for  refusing  the 
oath  of  succession ;  and  the  bishopric  of  Rochester,  with  the 
benefices  of  the  other  clerks,  were  declared  void  from  the 


&8  The  bishops  suffragans  were 
before  common  in  England,  some 
abbots  or  rich  clergymen  procur- 
ing, under  foreign  or  perhaps 
feigned  titles,  that  dignity ;  and  so 
performing  some  parts  of  the  epi- 
scopal function  in  large  or  neglected 
dioceses ;  so  the  abbot  or  prior  of 
Thame  was  one,  Coll.  p.  148.  Such 
was  Robert  King,  abbot  of  Osney, 
after  bishop  of  Oxford,  and  Thomas 


Cornish  a  residentiary  of  Wells, 
who,  by  the  name  of  Thomas,  epi- 
scopus  Tinensis,  did  confer  orders, 
and  performed  other  episcopal  func- 
tions for  Fox  while  he  was  bishop 
of  Exeter,  from  1487  to  1492,  and 
afterwards  when  he  was  bishop  of 
Wells,  as  appears  by  both  those 
registers.  He  died  in  the  year 
15 13.  Of  this  I  could  give  more 
instances  if  it  were  necessary.  [F.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.  (1534.)  261 

second  of  January  next :  yet  it  seems  few  were  fond  of  succeed- 
ing him  in  that  see ;  for  John  Hilsey,  the  next  bishop  of 
Rochester,  was  not  consecrated  before  the  year  1537 b9.  By  -J^j \V" 
the  fourth  act,  sir  Thomas  More  is  by  an  invidious  preamble  5^8.] 
charged  with  ingratitude  for  the  great  favours  he  had  received 
from  the  king,  and  for  studying  to  sow  and  make  sedition 
among  the  king's  subjects,  and  refusing  to  take  the  oath 
of  succession  :  therefore*  they  declared  the  king's  grants  to  him 
to  be  void,  and  attaint  him  of  misprision  of  treason. 

This  severity,  though  it  was  blamed  by  many,  yet  others  The  pro- 
thought   it  was  necessary  in  so  great  a  change ;    since  the  cee(;linp 

°  «/  o  &     '  against 

authority  of  these  two  men  was  such,  that,  if  some  signal  them  vari- 
notice  had  not  been  taken  of  them,  many  might  by  their  °"^ej  cen~ 
endeavours,  especially  encouraged  by  that  impunity,  have  been 
corrupted  in  their  affections  to  the  king.  Others  thought  the 
prosecuting  them  in  such  a  manner  did  rather  raise  their 
reputation  higher,  and  give  them  more  credit  with  the  people, 
who  are  naturally  inclined  to  pity  those  that  suffer,  and  to 
think  well  of  those  opinions,  for  which  they  see  men  resolved 
to  endure  all  extremities.  But  others  observed  the  justice  of 
God  in  retaliating  thus  upon  their  own  severities  to  others : 
159  t'°r  as  Fisher  did  grievously  prosecute  the  preachers  of  Luther's 
doctrine ;  so  More's  hand  had  been  very  heavy  on  them  as 
long  as  he  had  power,  and  he  had  shewed  them  no  mercy,  but 
the  extremity  of  the  law,  which  himself  now  felt  to  be  very 
heavy.  Thus  ended  the  session  of  parliament,  with  which  this 
book  is  also  to  conclude ;  for  now  I  come  to  a  third  period  of 
the  king's  reign,  in  which  he  did  govern  his  subjects  without 
any  competitor  :  but  I  am  to  stop  a  little,  and  give  an  account 
of  the  progress  of  the  reformation  in  these  years  that  I  have 
passed  through. 

The  cardinal  was  no  great  persecutor  of  heretics,  which  was  The  pro- 
generally  thought  to   flow   from   his   hatred   of  the   clergy,  feforma. 
and    that   he  was   not  ill   pleased  to   have  them  depressed. tion- 
During   the  agitation    of  the   king's   process,   there  was   no 

59  I  am  not  sure   this   has   not  vol.  xiv.    p.  553,)   and   adds,    that 

heen   taken  notice   of;    but   I   am  Strype  says  he  was  consecrated  in 

very  sure  from    several   authorities  September  the  same  year,  but  that 

that  he  was  bishop  ann.  1535.    [B.]  Wharton's  opinion  was  that  he  was 

[Le  Neve  says  he  had  the  temporal-  not  consecrated  till  1537.] 
ities  restored  Oct.  4,  1535,  (Rymer, 


262  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

prosecution  of  the  preachers  of  Luther's  doctrine.  Whether 
this  flowed  from  any  intimation  of  the  king's  pleasure  to  the 
bishops,  or  not,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  it  is  very  probable  it  must 
have  been  so,  for  these  opinions  were  received  by  many,  and 
the  popish  clergy  were  so  inclined  to  severity,  that  as  they 
wanted  not  occasions,  so  they  had  a  good  mind  to  use  those 
preachers  cruelly  ;  so  that  it  is  likely  the  king  restrained  them, 
and  that  was  always  mixed  with  the  other  threatenings  to  work 
upon  the  pope,  that  heresy  would  prevail  in  England,  if  the 
king  got  not  justice  done  him ;  so  that,  till  the  cardinal  fell, 
they  were  put  to  no  further  trouble. 

But  as  soon  as  More  came  into  favour,  he  pressed  the  king 
much  to  put  the  laws  against  heretics  in  execution ;  and  sug- 
gested, that  the  court  of  Rome  would  be  more  wrought  upon 
by  the  king's  supporting  the  church,  and  defending  the  faith 
vigorously,  than  by  threatenings  :  and  therefore  a  long  procla- 
mation was  issued  out  against  the  heretics,  many  of  their  books 
Fox.  [vol.    were  prohibited,  and  all  the  laws  against  them  were  appointed 
n.  p.  234.]   £0  jjg  pU£  jn  execution,  and  great  care  was  taken  to  seize  them 
as  they  came  into  England  :   but  many  escaped  their  diligence. 
Tyndale  There  were  some  at  Antwerp,  Tyndale,  Joy,  Constantine, 

a"d  otliei     with  a  few  more,  that  were  every  year  writing  and  printing 

fit  Ant-  B  t  B 

werp.  new  books,  chiefly  against  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy,  the 

superstition  of  pilgrimages,  of  worshipping  images,  saints,  and 
relics,  and  against  relying  on  these  things,  which  were  then 
called,  in  the  common  style,  good  works;  in  opposition  to 
which  they  wrote  much  about  faith  in  Christ,  with  a  true  evan- 
gelical obedience,  as  the  only  mean  by  which  men  could  be 
saved.  The  book  that  had  the  greatest  authority  and  influ- 
ence was  Tyndale's  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  of  which 
the  bishops  made  great  complaints,  and  said,  it  was  full  of 
errors.  But  Tunstall,  then  bishop  of  London,  being  a  man  of 
invincible  moderation,  would  do  nobody  hurt,  yet  endeavoured 
Hall.  [pp.  as  he  could  to  get  their  books  into  his  hands :  so,  being  at 
762,  818.]  Antwerp  in  the  year  1529,  as  he  returned  from  his  embassy 
at  the  treaty  of  Cambray,  he  sent  for  one  Packington,  an 
English  merchant  there,  and  desired  him  to  see  how  many 
New  Testaments  of  Tyndale's  translation  he  might  have  for 
money.  Packington,  who  was  a  secret  favourer- of  Tyndale, 
told  him  what  the  bishop  proposed.     Tyndale  was  very  glad 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  263 

160  of  it ;  for,  being  convinced  of  some  faults  in  his  work,  he  was 
designing  a  new  and  more  correct  edition ;  but  he  was  poor, 
and  the  former  impression  not  being  sold  off,  he  could  not  go 
about  it :  so  he  gave  Packington  all  the  copies  that  lay  in  his 
hands,  for  which  the  bishop  paid  the  price,  and  brought  them 
over,  and  burnt  them  publicly  in  Cheapside.  This  had  such  The  New 
an  hateful  appearance  in  it,  being  generally  called  a  burning  b,^111611 
of  the  word  of  God,  that  people  from  thence  concluded  there 
must  be  a  visible  contrariety  between  that  book  and  the  doc- 
trines of  those  who  so  handled  it ;  by  which  both  their  preju- 
dice against  the  clergy,  and  their  desire  of  reading  the  New 
Testament,  was  increased.  So  that  next  year,  when  the  second 
edition  was  finished,  many  more  were  brought  over,  and  Con-  [Fox,  vol. 
stantine  being  taken  in  England,  the  lord  chancellor  in  a  pri-  Ul  p' 235'-' 
vate  examination  promised  him,  that  no  hurt  should  be  done 
him,  if  he  would  reveal  who  encouraged  and  supported  them 
at  Antwerp ;  which  he  accepted  of,  and  told,  that  the  greatest 
encouragement  they  had  was  from  the  bishop  of  London,  who 
had  bought  up  half  the  impression.  This  made  all  that  heard 
of  it  laugh  heartily,  though  more  judicious  persons  discerned 
the  great  temper  of  that  learned  bishop  in  it.  When  the  clergy 
condemned  Tyndale's  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  they 
declared  they  intended  to  set  out  a  true  translation  of  it; 
which  many  thought  was  never  truly  designed  by  them,  but 
only  pretended,  that  they  might  restrain  the  curiosity  of  seeing 
Tyndale's  work,  with  the  hopes  of  one  that  should  be  author- 
ized :  and  as  they  made  no  progress  in  it,  so  at  length,  on  the 
twenty -fourth  of  May,  anno  1530,  there  was  a  paper  drawn 
and  agreed  to  by  archbishop  Warham,  chancellor  More,  bishop 
Tunstall,  and  many  canonists  and  divines,  which  every  incum- 
bent was  commanded  to  read  to  his  parish,  as  a  warning  to 
prevent  the  contagion  of  heresy.  The  contents  of  which  were, 
"  That  the  king  having  called  together  many  of  the  prelates,  The  last 
"  with  other  learned  men  out  of  both  universities,  to  examine  Ffper  S  SV" 

Henrybpel- 

"  some  books  lately  set  out  in  the  English  tongue,  they  had  man's  se- 
"  agreed  to  condemn  them,   as  containing  several  points  of  nviiklns' 
"  heresy  in  them ;  and  it  being  proposed  to  them,  whether  it  Concilia, 
"  was   necessary  to    set  forth    the   scriptures   in  the  vulgar  *2».] 
"  tongue,  they  were  of  opinion,  that  though  it  had  been  some- 
"  times  done,  yet  it  was  not  necessary,  and  that  the  king  did 


264  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

"  well  not  to  set  it  out  at  that  time  in  the  English  tongue." 
So  by  this  all  the  hopes  of  a  translation  of  the  scriptures 
vanished. 
Supplica-         There  came  out  another  book,  which  took  mightily  ;  it  was 
Beggars.  6  entitled,   The  Supplication  of  the  Beggars60,  written  by  one 
[Fox,  vol.    Simon  Fish,  of  Gray's-Inn.     In  it  the  beggars  complained  to 
the  king,  that  they  were  reduced  to  great  misery,  the  alms  of 
the  people  being  intercepted  by  companies  of  strong  and  idle 
friars;  for,  supposing  that  each  of  the  five  mendicant  orders 
had  but  a  penny  a  quarter  from  every  household,  it  did  rise 
to  a  vast  sum,  of  which  the  indigent  and  truly  necessitous  beg- 
gars were  defrauded.     Their  being  unprofitable  to  the  com- 
monwealth, with  several  other  things,  were  also  complained  of. 
He  also  taxed  the  pope  for  cruelty  and  covetousness,  that  did 
not  deliver  all  persons  out  of  purgatory ;  and  that  none  but 
the  rich,  who  paid  well  for  it,  could  be  discharged  out  of  that 
prison.     This  was  written  in  a  witty  and  taking  style,  and  the 
king  had  it  put  in  his  hands  by  Anne  Boleyn,  and  liked  it  well,  161 
and  would  not  suffer  any  thing  to  be  done  to  the  author. 
More  an-        Chancellor  More  was  the  most  zealous  champion  the  clergy 
swers  it.      ]ia(j .  for  j  (Jq  no{.  fin(j  ^hat  any  of  them  wrote  much,  only  the 
232.]  bishop  of  Rochester  wrote  for  purgatory ;  but  the  rest  left  it 

wholly  to  him,  either  because  few  of  them  could  write  well,  or 
that  he  being  much  esteemed,  and  a  disinterested  person, 
things  would  be  better  received  from  him  than  from  them, 
[Works,  p.  who  were  looked  on  as  parties.  So  he  answered  this  Suppli- 
cation by  another61,  in  the  name  of  the  souls  that  were  in  pur- 
gatory, representing  the  miseries  they  were  in,  and  the  great 
relief  they  found  by  the  masses  the  friars  said  for  them,  and 
brought  in  every  man's  ancestors  calling  earnestly  upon  him 
to  befriend  those  poor  friars  now,  when  they  had  so  many 
enemies.  He  confidently  asserted  it  had  been  the  doctrine  of 
the  church  for  many  ages,  and  brought  many  places  out  of  the 
scriptures  to  prove  it,  besides  several  reasons  that  seemed  to 
confirm  it.     This,  being  writ  of  a  subject  that  would  allow  of  a 

60  [The  Supplication  of  Beggers,  made,  Anno  1529  by  syr  Thomas 
compyled  by  Symon  Fyshe.  Anno  More  knight,  counsaylour  to  our 
1524.  It  was  reprinted  in  1546,  at  soueraygne  lorde  the  kynge,  and 
the  end  of  '  A  Supplication  of  the  chauncelour  of  hys  duchye  of  Lan- 
poore  Commons.']  caster.  Agaynst  the  Supplicacion  of 

61  [The   supplicacion    of    soules  Beggars.] 


288.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  26*5 

great  deal  of  popular  and  moving  eloquence,  in  which  he  was 
very  eminent,  took  with  many. 

But  it  discovered  to  others  what  was  the  foundation  of  those  Frith  re- 
religious  orders ;  and  that,  if  the  belief  of  purgatory  were  ?F^'  vol 
once  rooted  out,  all  that  was  built  on  that  foundation  must  ii.  pp.  233, 
needs  fall  with  it.  So  John  Frith  wrote  an  answer6-  to  More's 
Supplication,  to  shew,  that  there  was  no  ground  for  purgatory 
in  scripture,  and  that  it  was  not  believed  in  the  primitive 
church.  He  also  answered  the  bishop  of  Rochester's  book, 
and  some  dialogues  that  were  written  on  the  same  subject,  by 
Rastal,  a  printer,  and  kinsman  of  More's :  he  discovered  the 
fallacy  of  their  reasonings,  which  were  built  on  the  weakness 
or  defects  of  our  repentance  in  this  life ;  and  that  therefore 
there  must  be  another  state ;  in  which  we  must  be  further 
purified.  To  this  he  answered,  That  our  sins  were  not  par- 
doned for  our  repentance,  or  the  perfection  of  it,  but  only  for  . 
the  merits  and  sufferings  of  Christ;  and  that,  if  our  repent- 
ance is  sincere,  God  accepts  of  it ;  and  sin  being  once  par- 
doned, it  could  not  be  further  punished.  He  shewed  the  dif- 
ference between  the  punishments  Ave  may  suffer  in  this  life, 
and  those  in  purgatory :  the  one  are  either  medicinal  correc- 
tions for  reforming  us  more  and  more,  or  for  giving  warning 
to  others ;  the  other  are  terrible  punishments,  without  any  of 
these  ends  in  them  :  therefore  the  one  might  well  consist  with 
the  free  pardon  of  sin,  the  other  could  not.  So  he  argued 
from  all  these  places  of  scripture,  in  which  we  are  said  to  be 
freely  pardoned  our  sins  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  that  no 
punishment  in  another  state  could  consist  with  it :  he  also 
argued,  from  all  those  places  in  which  it  is  said  that  we  shall, 
at  the  day  of  judgment,  receive  according  to  what  we  have 
done  in  the  body,  that  there  was  no  state  of  purgatory  beyond 
this  life.  For  the  places  brought  out  of  the  Old  Testament, 
he  shewed  they  could  not  be  meant  of  purgatory,  since,  accord- 

62  [A  disputacion  of  Purgatorye  to  proue  purgatorye  by  scripture, 

made  by  Jhon  Frith,  whiche  is  de-  The  thyrde  boke  maketh  answere 

vided  in  to  thre  bokes.  unto  my  lorde  of  Rochestre,  which 

The  fyrst  boke  is  an  answere  unto  moost  leaneth  unto  the  doctoures. 

Rastell,  which  goeth  aboute  to  proue  This  is  a  very  small  volume  with- 

purgatorye  by  naturall  phylosophye.  out  any  date  or  printer's  name,  and 

The  seconde  boke  answereth  unto  the  pages  are  not  numbered.] 
sir  Thomas  More,  which  laboureth 


2G6  THE   HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

ing  to  the  doctrine  of  the  schoolmen,  there  was  no  going  to 
purgatory  before  Christ.  For  the  places  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment he  appealed  to  More's  great  friend  Erasmus,  whose  expo- 
sition of  these  places  differed  much  from  his  glosses.  That 
[i  Cor.  iii.  place  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  about  the  fire,  that  was 
I3'-*  to  try  every  man's  work,  he  said,  was  plainly  allegorical;  and 

since  the  foundation,  the  building  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious 
stones,   of  wood,  hay,  and  stubble,  were  figuratively   taken,  162 
there  was  no  reason  to  take  the  fire  in  a  literal  sense  :  there- 
fore by  fire  was  to  be  understood  the  persecution  then  near  at 
hand,  called  in  other  places,  the  fiery  trial. 

For  the  ancient  doctors,  he  shewed,  that  in  the  fourth 
century,  St.  Ambrose,  Jerome,  and  St.  Austin,  the  three  great 
doctors  of  that  age,  did  not  believe  it ;  and  cited  several  pass- 
ages out  of  their  writings.  It  is  true,  St.  Austin  went  further 
than  the  rest ;  for  though  in  some  passages  be  delivered  his 
opinion  against  it,  yet  in  other  places  he  spake  of  it  more 
doubtfully,  as  a  thing  that  might  be  inquired  into,  but  that  it 
could  not  be  certainly  known :  and  indeed  before  Gregory  the 
Great's  time  it  was  not  received  in  the  church,  and  then  the 
Benedictine  monks  were  beginning  to  spread  and  grow  numer- 
ous, and  they,  to  draw  advantages  from  it,  told  many  stories 
of  visions  and  dreams,  to  possess  the  world  with  a  belief  of  it ; 
then  the  trade  grew  so  profitable,  that  ever  since  it  was  kept 
up,  and  improved  :  and  what  succeeded  so  well  with  one  society 
and  order,  to  enrich  themselves  much  by  it,  was  an  encourage- 
ment to  others  to  follow  their  track  in  the  same  way  of  traffic. 
This  book  was  generally  well  received ;  and  the  clergy  were 
so  offended  at  the  author,  that  they  resolved  to  make  him  feel 
a  real  fire,  whenever  he  was  catched,  for  endeavouring  to  put 
out  their  imaginary  one. 

That  from  which  More  and  others  took  greatest  advantage 
was,  that  the  new  preachers  prevailed  only  on  simple  trades- 
men, and  women,  and  other  illiterate  persons :  but  to  this  the 
others  answered,  that  the  Pharisees  made  the  same  objection 
to  the  followers  of  Christ,  who  were  fishermen,  women,  and 
[Luke  vii.  rude  mechanics ;  but  Christ  told  them,  that  to  the  jjoor  the 
gosjiel  was  jyreached  :  and  when  the  philosophers  and  Jews 
objected  that  to  the  apostles,  they  said,  God's  glory  did  the 
more  appear,  since  not  many  rich,  wise,  or  noble,  were  called, 


22.] 


book  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1534.)  267 

but  the  poor  and  despised  were  chosen  :  that  men  who  had 
much  to  lose  had  not  that  simplicity  of  mind,  nor  that  disen- 
gagement from  worldly  things,  that  was  a  necessary  disposi- 
tion to  fit  them  for  a  doctrine,  which  was  like  to  bring  much 
trouble  and  persecution  on  them. 

Thus  I  have  opened  some  of  these  things,  which  were  at  The  cruel 
that  time  disputed  by  the  pen,  in  which  opposition  new  things  ^against 
were  still  started  and  examined.*    But  this  was  too  feeble  a  *lie  re- 

.      formers. 

weapon  for  the  defence  of  the  clergy  ;  therefore  they  sought 
out  sharper  tools.      So   there  were   many   brought  into  the 
bishops'  courts,  some  for  teaching  their   children  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  English,  some  for  reading  the  forbidden  books,  some 
for  harbouring  the  preachers,  some  for  speaking  against  pil- 
grimages, or  the  worshipping  and  adorning  of  images,  some 
for  not  observing  the  church-fasts,  some  for  not  coming  to  con- 
fession and  the  sacrament,  and  some  for  speaking  against  the 
vices  of  the  clergy.     Most  of  these  were  simple  and  illiterate 
men  ;  and  the  terror  of  the  bishops'1  courts  and  prisons,  and  of 
a  fagot  in  the  end,  wrought  so  much  on  their  fears  and  weak- 
ness, that  they  generally  abjured  and  were  dismissed.     But  in 
the  end  of  the  year  1530,  one  Thomas  Hitton,  who  had  been  More. 
curate  of  Maidstone,  and  had  left  that  place,  going  oft  to  Ant-  g^^o^f 
werp.  he  bringing  over  some  of  the  books  that  were  printed  [F°x>  vol. 
there,  was  taken  at  Gravesend,  and  brought  before  Warham  Tyndale. 
and  Fisher,  who,  after  he  had  suffered  much  by  a  long  and  Ep-  29+d 
cruel  imprisonment,  condemned  him  to  be  burnt. 
163      The  most  eminent  person  that  suffered  about  this  time  was  Bilney's 
Thomas  Bilney,  of  whose  abjuration  an  account  was  given  in  r^x  vol 
the  first  book:    he  after  that  went  to  Cambridge,  and   was  »■  p-  211.] 
much  troubled  in  his  conscience  for  what  he  had  done,  so  that 
the  rest  of  that  society  at  Cambridge  were  in  great  apprehen- 
sion of  some  violent  effect,  which  that  desperation  might  pro- 
duce, and  sometimes  watched   him  whole  nights.     This  con-  Latimer's 
tinued  about  a  year ;  but  at  length  his  mind  was  more  quieted,  r^Fox 
and  he  resolved  to  expiate  his  abjuration  by  as  public  and  vol.  ii.  p. 
solemn  a  confession  of  the  truth:  and,  to  prepare  himself  the  "" 
better,  both  to  defend  and  suffer  for  the  doctrines  which  he  had 
formerly  through  fear  denied,  he  followed  his  studies  for  two 
years.     And  when  he  found  himself  well  fortified  in  this  reso- 
lution, he  took  leave  of  his  friends  at  Cambridge,  and  went  to 


268  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

his  own  country  of  Norfolk,  to  whom  he  thought  he  owed  his 
first  endeavours. 
The  things       He  preached  up  and  down  the  country,  confessing  his  former 
him.C  '      °  sm  °f  denying  the  faith,  and  taught  the  people  to  beware  of 
idolatry,  or  trusting  to  pilgrimages,  to  the  cowl  of  St.  Francis, 
to  the  prayers  of  saints,  or  to  images ;  but  exhorted  them  to 
stay  at  home,  to  give  much  alms,  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ, 
Fox.  [vol.    and  to  offer  up  their  hearts^  wills,  and  minds  to  him  in  the 
"'  p"  2l4 '-'  sacrament.     This  being  noised  about,  he  was  seized  on  by  the 
bishop's  officers,  and  put  in  prison  at  Norwich,  and  the  writ 
was  sent  for  to  burn  him  as  a  relapse,  he  being  first  condemned 
it  is  given  and  degraded  from  his  priesthood.      While   he  was   in  pri- 
ahjured.      son>  the  friars  came  oft  about  him  to  persuade  him  to  recant 
[ibid  p.       again,  and  it  was  given  out  that  he  did  read  a  bill  of  abjura- 
tion. 

More,  not  being  satisfied  to  have  sent  the  writ  for  his  burn- 
ing, studied  also  to  defame  him,  publishing  this  to  the  world; 
yet  in  that  he  was  certainly  abused,  for  if  he  had  signed  any 
such  paper,  it  had  been  put  in  the  bishop"^  register,  as  all 
things  of  that  nature  were  :  but  no  such  writing  was  ever 
shewn ;  only  some  said  they  heard  him  read  it ;  and  others, 
who  denied  there  was  any  such  thing,  being  questioned  for  it, 
submitted  and  confessed  their  fault.  But,  at  such  a  time,  it 
was  no  strange  thing  if  a  lie  of  that  nature  was  vented  with  so 
much  authority,  that  men  were  afraid  to  contradict  it ;  and 
when  a  man  is  a  close  prisoner,  those  who  only  have  access  to 
him  may  spread  what  report  of  him  they  please ;  and  when 
once  such  a  thing  is  said,  they  never  want  officious  vouchers  to 
lie  and  swear  for  it.  But  since  nothing  was  ever  shewed  under 
his  hand,  it  is  clear  there  was  no  truth  in  these  reports,  which 
were  spread  about  to  take  away  the  honour  of  martyrdom 
from  the  new  doctrines.  It  is  true,  he  had  never  inquired 
[ibid.  p.  into  all  the  other  tenets  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  so  did  not 
2  25-1  differ  from  them  about  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacra- 

The  false-    ment,  and  some  other  things.     But  when  men  durst  speak 
hood  of       freely,  there  were  several  persons  that  witnessed  the  constancy 


afterwards  and  sincerity  of  Bilney  in  these  his  last  conflicts ;  and,  among 
the  rest,  Matthew  Parker,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, was  an  eyewitness  of  his  sufferings,  which  from  his  rela- 
tion were  published  afterwards :    he  took  his  death  patiently 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  269 

and  constantly,  and  in  the  little  time  that  was  allowed  him  to 
live  after  his  sentence,  he  was  observed  to  be  cheerful ;  and 
the  poor  victuals  that  were  brought  him,  bread  and  ale,  he  eat 
up  heartily ;  of  which  when  one  took  notice,  he  said  he  must 
164  keep  up  that  ruinous  cottage  till  it  fell;  and  often  repeated 

that  passage  in  Isaiah,  When  thou  walkest  through  the  fire,  [Isa.xlii.?.] 

thou  shalt  not  be  burnt ;  and,  putting  his  finger  in  the  flame 

of  the  candle,  he  told  those  about  him,  that  he  well  knew  what 

a  pain  burning  was,  but  that  it  should  only  consume  the  stubble  [Fox,  vol. 

of  his  body,  and  that  his  soul  should  be  purged  by  it. 

When  the  day  of  execution  came,  being  the  tenth  of  Novem-  The  man- 
ber,  as  he  was  led  out,  he  said  to  one  that  exhorted  him  to  be  auffering. 
patient  and  constant,  that  as  the  mariners  endured  the  tossing 
of  the  waves,  hoping  to  arrive  at  their  desired  port,  so,  though 
he  wras  now  entering  into  a  storm,  yet  he  hoped  he  should 
soon  arrive  at  the  haven  ;  and  desired  their  prayers.     When 
he  came  to  the  stake,  he  repeated  the  creed,  to  shew  the  peo- 
ple that  he  died  in  the  faith  of  the  apostles ;  then  he  put  up 
his  prayers  to  God  with  great  shows  of  inward  devotion  ;  which  [ibid.  p. 
ended,  he  repeated  the  hundred  and  forty-third  Psalm,  and  22 
paused  on  these  words  of  it,  Enter  not  into  judgment  with  thy  [Ps-  cxliii. 
servant,  for  in  thy  sight  shall  no  man  living  be  justified,  with 
deep  recollection :  and  when  doctor  Warner,  that  accompanied 
him  to  the  stake,  took  leave  of  him  with  many  tears,  Bilney 
with  a  cheerful  countenance  exhorted  him  to  feed  his  flock, 
that  at  his  Lord's  coming  he  might  find  him  so  doing.     Many 
of  the  begging  friars  desired  him  to  declare  to  the  people,  that 
they  had  not  procured  his  death ;    for  that  was  got  among 
them,  and  they  feared  the  people  would  give  them  no  more 
alms :  so  he  desired  the  spectators  not  to  be  the  worse  to  these 
men  for  his  sake,  for  they  had  not  procured  his  death.     Then 
the  fire  was  set  to,  and  his  body  consumed  to  ashes. 

Thus  it  appears,  both  what  opinion  the  people  had  of  him, 
and  in  what  charity  he  died,  even  towards  his  enemies,  doing 
them  good  for  evil.  But  this,  though  it  perhaps  struck  terror 
in  weaker  minds,  yet  it  no  less  encouraged  others  to  endure 
patiently  all  the  severities  that  were  used  to  draw  them  from 
his  doctrine.  Soon  after,  one  Richard  Byfield  suffered :  he  Byfield's 
was  a  monk  of  St.  Edmundsbury,  and  had  been  instructed  by  «"ffenn§;q 

"  "    [Fox,  vol. 

doctor  Barnes,  who  cave  him  some  books;  which  being  dis-  ii.  p. 238] 


270  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

covered,  he  was  put  in  prison,  but  through  fear  abjured :  yet 
afterward  he  left  the  monastery,  and  came  to  London.  He 
went  oft  over  to  Antwerp,  and  brought  in  forbidden  books, 
which  being  smelled  out,  he  was  seized  on,  and  examined 
about  these  books  :  he  justified  them,  and  said,  he  thought  they 
were  good  and  profitable,  and  did  openly  exclaim  against  the 
[Nov.  27,  dissolute  lives  of  the  clergy:  so  being  judged  heretic,  he 
m5-3!1-,'  Fox'  was  burnt  in  Smithfield  the  eleventh  of  November. 

ibid.] 

And  In  December,  one  John  Tewksbury,  a  shopkeeper  in  London, 

Tewks-       W|1Q  jia(j  formeriy  abjured,  was  also  taken  and  tried  in  sir 

bury  s.  jo 

[Dec.  20,     Thomas  More's  house  at  Chelsea,  where  sentence  was  given 

voMi    °X'  agamst  him  by  Stokesley,  bishop  of  London,  (for  Tunstall  was 

p-  244-]       translated  the  former  year  to   Durham,)  and   was  burnt  in 

Smithfield.     There  were  also  three  burnt  at  York  this  year, 

two  men  and  one  woman. 

These   proceedings    were   complained   of  in    the   following 
session  of  parliament,  as  was  formerly  told ;  and  the  ecclesi- 
astical courts  being  found  both  arbitrary  and  cruel,  the  house 
of  commons  desired  a  redress  of  that  from   the  king :    but 
nothing  was  done  about  it  till,  three  years  after  that,  the  new  1C5 
act  against  heretics  was   made,   as   was   already  told.     The 
clergy  were  not  much  moved  at  the  address  which  the  house  of 
commons    made,    and    therefore    went   on    in   their    extreme 
courses ;  and,  to  strike  a  terror  in  the  gentry,  they  resolved  to 
Bainham's  make  an  example  of  one  James  Bainham,  a  gentleman  of  the 
su  eimgs.   rpgjjjpig .    he  was  carried  to  the  lord  chancellor's  house,  where 
much  pains  was  taken  to  persuade  him  to  discover  such  as  he 
Fox.  [vol.    knew  in  the  Temple,  who  favoured  the  new  opinions ;    but  fair 
"'  p'   4       means  not  prevailing,  More  made  him  be  whipped  in  his  own 
presence,  and,  after  that,  sent  him  to  the  Tow^r,  where  he 
looked  on  and  saw  him  put  to  the  rack.     Yet  it  seems  nothing 
could  be  drawn  from  him,  that  might  be  made  use  of  to  any 
other  person's  hurt ;   yet  he  himself  afterwards,  overcome  with 
fear,  abjured  and  did  penance,  but  had  no  quiet  in  his  con- 
[Ibid.  p.      science  till  he  went  publicly  to  church,  with  a  New  Testament 
247d  in  his  hand,  and   confessed,  with  many  tears,  that  he  had 

denied  God,  and  prayed  the  people  not  to  do  as  he  had  done ; 
and  said,  that  he  felt  an  hell  in  his  own  conscience  for  what  he 
had  done.  So  he  was  soon  after  carried  to  the  Tower ;  (for 
now  the  bishops,  to  avoid  the  imputation  of  using  men  cruelly 


book  ii.]  THE    REFORMATION.     (1534)  271 

in  their  prisons,  did  put  heretics  in  the  king's  prisons.)  He 
was  charged  for  having  said.  "  That  Thomas  Becket  was  a  [ibid. 
"  murderer,  and  damned  in  hell  if  he  did  not  repent ;  and  for  P- 24S] 
"  speaking  contemptuously  of  praying  to  saints,  and  saying, 
"  that  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  was  only  Christ's  mystical 
"  body,  and  that  his  body  was  not  chewed  with  the  teeth,  but 
"  received  by  faith.  So  he  was  judged  an  obstinate  and 
"  relapsed  heretic,  and  was  burnt  in  Smithfield  about  the  end 
"  of  April  1532."  There  were  also  some  others  burnt  a  little 
before  this  time,  of  whom  a  particular  account  could  not  be 
recovered  by  Fox,  with  all  his  industry.  But  with  Bainham, 
More's  persecution  ended  ;  for  soon  after  he  laid  down  the 
great  seal,  which  set  the  poor  preachers  at  ease. 

Crome  and  Latimer  were  brought  before  the  convocation,  Kegist. 
and  accused  of  heresy.  They  both  subscribed  the  articles  ^Jj^ 
offered  to  them,  "  That  there  was  a  purgatory  :  that  the  souls  which 
"  in  it  were  profited  by  masses  said  for  them  :  that  the  saints  jure(j. 
"  are  now  in  heaven,  and  as  mediators  pray  for  us  :  that  men 
"  ought  to  pray  to  them,  and  honour  them  :  that  pilgrimages 
"  were  pious  and  meritorious :  that  men  who  vowed  chastity 
"  might  not  marry  without  the  pope's  dispensation :  that  the 
"  keys  of  binding  and  loosing  were  given  to  St.  Peter,  and  to 
"  his  successors,  though  their  lives  were  bad ;  and  not  at  all  to 
"  the  laity  :  that  men  merited  by  prayers,  fasting,  and  other 
"  good  works  :  that  priests  prohibited  by  the  bishop  should 
"  not  preach  till  they  were  purged  and  restored  :  that  the 
"  seven  sacraments  conferred  grace :  that  consecrations  and 
u  benedictions  used  by  the  church  were  good :  that  it  was 
"  good  and  profitable  to  set  up  the  images  of  Christ  and  the 
"  saints  in  the  churches,  and  to  adorn  them  and  burn  candles 
"  before  them  ;  and  that  kings  were  not  obliged  to  give  their 
"  people  the  scriptures  in  a  vulgar  tongue."  By  these  articles 
it  may  be  easily  collected,  what  were  the  doctrines  then 
preached  by  the  reformers.  There  was  yet  no  dispute  about 
the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  which  was  first  called 
in  question  by  Frith  ;  for  the  books  of  Zuinglius  and  CEco- 
166  lampadius  came  later  into  England,  and  hitherto  they  had  only 
seen  Luther's  works,  with  those  written  by  his  followers. 

But  in  the  year  1532,  there  was  another  memorable  instance  Tracy's 
of  the  clergy's  cruelty  against  the  dead  bodies  of  those  whom  rp^"™* 

ii.  p.  262.] 


27% 


THE    HISTORY    OF 


[part  I. 


Regist. 

Fitz- 

James. 

[passim.] 

[Hall,  p. 

797-] 


Regist. 
Stokes, 
fol.  72. 


Harding's 
sufferings. 
[Fox,  vol. 
ii.  p.  [93.] 


they  suspected  of  heresy.  The  common  style  of  all  wills  and 
testaments  at  that  time  was,  first,  "  I  bequeathe  my  soul  to 
"  Almighty  God,  and  to  our  Lady  St.  Mary,  and  to  all  the 
"  saints  in  heaven  :  but  one  William  Tracy  6  3  of  Worcestershire 
"  dying,  left  a  will  of  a  far  different  strain  ;  for  he  bequeathed 
"  his  soul  only  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whose  inter- 
"  cession  alone  he  trusted,  without  the  help  of  any  other  saint ; 
"  therefore  he  left  no  part  of  his  goods  to  have  any  pray  for 
"  his  soul."  This  being  brought  to  the  bishop  of  London's 
court64,  he  was  condemned  as  an  heretic,  and  an  order  was 
sent  to  Parker,  chancellor  of  Worcester,  to  raise  his  body. 
The  officious  chancellor  went  beyond  his  order,  and  burnt  the 
body  ;  but  the  record  bears,  that  though  he  might  by  the 
warrant  he  had,  raise  the  body  according  to  the  law  of  the 
church,  yet  he  had  no  authority  to  burn  it.  So,  two  years 
after,  Tracy's  heirs  sued  him  for  it,  and  he  was  turned  out  of 
his  office  of  chancellor,  and  fined  in  four  hundred  pound. 

There  is  another  instance  of  the  cruelty  of  the  clergy  this 
year.  One  Thomas  Harding  of  Buckinghamshire,  an  ancient 
man,  who  had  abjured  in  the  year  1506,  was  now  observed  to 
go  often  into  woods,  and  was  seen  sometimes  reading.  Upon 
which  his  house  was  searched,  and  some  parcels  of  the  New 
Testament  in  English  were  found  in  it.  So  he  was  carried 
before  Longland,  bishop  of  Lincoln ;  who,  as  he  was  a  cruel 
persecutor,  so,  being  the  king's  confessor,  acted  with  the  more 


63  Tracy  was  of  Toddington  in 
Gloucestershire.  If  the  register  says 
it  was  brought  into  the  bishop  of 
London's  court,  there  is  no  contra- 
dicting such  authority.  But  Tyn- 
dale's  exposition  of  Tracy's  will 
says  it  was  brought  before  the  arch- 
bishop. And  in  Fox  (Commentar. 
Lat.  p.  125.)  the  archbishop  is  said 
to  have  committed  the  execution  of 
this  business  to  Dr.  Parker,  chan- 
cellor of  the  diocese  of  Worcester,  in 
which  diocese  Gloucestershire  then 
was.  Nor  do  I  see  how  it  could  be 
regularly  brought  into  the  bishop  of 
London's  court.  [B.]  [Hall  gives 
the  same  account,  p.  796.] 

64  Tracy's  business  was  never  in 
the  bishop  of  London's   court;    it 


was  brought  into  the  convocation 
by  the  prolocutor  on  the  24th  of 
February  1530,  and  after  80  days 
the  archbishop  gave  sentence  against 
the  will,  and  condemned  it.  In 
another  session  the  bishop  of  Lon- 
don read  the  sentence  in  the  arch- 
bishop's name.  It  was  also  decreed 
that  Tracy  died  a  heretic,  and  his 
body  was  ordered  to  be  dug  up  and 
cast  a  great  way  from  ecclesiastical 
sepulture.  The  prolocutor  had  in- 
deed moved  that  his  body  should  be 
burned ;  but  the  sentence  went  not 
so  far.  Yet  the  execution  of  it  being 
committed  to  Parker,  chancellor  of 
Worcester,  he  went  further  than  the 
sentence  warranted  him,  and  burned 
the  body.    [S.] 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1533.)  273 

authority.  This  aged  man  was  judged  a  relapse,  and  sent  to 
Chesham,  where  he  lived,  to  be  burnt ;  which  was  executed  on 
Corpus  Christi  eve.  At  this  time  there  was  an  indulgence 
of  forty  days'  pardon  proclaimed  to  all  that  carried  a  fagot  to 
the  burning  of  an  heretic  ;  so  dextrously  did  the  clergy  en- 
deavour to  infect  the  laity  with  their  own  cruel  spirit :  and 
that  wrought  upon  this  occasion  a  signal  effect ;  for,  as  the  fire 
was  kindled,  one  flung  a  fagot  at  the  old  man's  head,  which  Fox.  [ibid, 
dashed  out  his  brains.  p' I^4J 

In  the  year  1533,  it  was  thought  fit  by  some  signal  evidence  1533- 
to  convince  the  world,  that  the  king  did  not  design  to  change 
the  established  religion,  though  he  had  then  proceeded  far  in 
his  breach  with  Rome  ;  and  the  crafty  bishop  of  Winchester, 
Gardiner,  as  he  complied  with  the  king  in  his  second  marriage 
and  separation  from  Rome,  so,  being  an  inveterate  enemy  to 
the  reformation,  and  in  his  heart  addicted  to  the  court  of 
Rome,  did  by  this  argument  often  prevail  with  the  king  to 
punish  the  heretics  ;  That  it  would  most  effectually  justify  his 
other  proceedings,  and  convince  the  world  that  he  was  still 
a  good  catholic  king :  which  at  several  times  drew  the  king  to 
what  he  desired.  And  at  this  time  the  steps  the  king  had 
made  in  his  separation  from  the  pope  had  given  such  heart  to 
the  new  preachers,  that  they  grew  bolder  and  more  public  in 
their  assemblies. 

John  Frith,  as  he  was  an  excellent  scholar,  which  was  so  Frith's 
taken  notice  of,  some  years  before,  that  he  was  put  in  the  list  n^1"^' 
of  those  whom  the  cardinal  intended  to  bring  from  Cambridge,  "•  p-  250.] 
167  and  put  in  his  college  at  Oxford  ;   so  he  had  offended  them  by 
several  writings,  and,  by  a  discourse  which  he  wrote  against 
the  corporal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  had  provoked 
the  king,  who  continued  to  his  death  to  believe  that  firmly. 
"  The  substance  of  his  arguments  was,  That  Christ  in  the  His  argu- 
"  sacrament  gave  eternal  life,  but  the  receiving  the  bare  sacra-  ™e"ts,t  t] 
"  ment  did  not  give  eternal  life,  since  many  took  it  to  their  corporal 
"  damnation  ;  therefore  Christ's  presence  there  was  only  felt  nfoid1106 
"  by  faith.     This   he  further  proved  by  the  fathers  before  P-  -5^-] 
"  Christ,  who  did  eat  the  same  spiritual  food,  and  drink  of  the 
"  Rock,  which  was  Christ,  according  to  St.  Paul.     Since  then, 
"  they  and  we  communicate  in  the  same  thing,  and  it  was 
"  certain  that  they  did  not  eat  Christ's  flesh  corporally,  but 

BURNET,  PART  I.  T 


274  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  fed  by  faith  on  a  Messias  to  come,  as  Christians  do  on  a 
"  Messias  already  come  ;  therefore  we  now  do  only  communi- 
"  cate  by  faith.  He  also  insisted  much  on  the  signification  of 
"  the  word  sacrament,  from  whence  he  concluded,  that  the 
"  elements  must  be  the  mystical  signs  of  Christ's  body  and 
"  blood  ;  for  if  they  were  truly  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ, 
"  they  should  not  be  sacraments.  He  concluded,  that  the  ends 
"  of  the  sacrament  were  these  three  ;  by  a  visible  action  to 
"  knit  the  society  of  Christians  together  in  one  body,  to  be  a 
"  means  of  conveying  grace  upon  our  due  participating  of 
"  them,  and  to  be  remembrances  to  stir  up  men  to  bless  God 
"  for  that  unspeakable  love,  which  in  the  death  of  Christ 
"  appeared  to  mankind.  To  all  these  ends  the  corporal 
"  presence  of  Christ  availetlr  nothing,  they  being  sufficiently 
"  answered  by  a  mystical  presence :  yet  he  drew  no  other 
"  conclusion  from  these  premises,  but  that  the  belief  of  the 
"  corporal  presence  in  the  sacrament  was  no  necessary  article 
"  of  our  faith."  This  either  flowed  from  his  not  having  yet 
arrived  at  a  sure  persuasion  in  the  matter,  or  that  he  chose  in 
that  modest  style  to  encounter  an  opinion,  of  which  the  world 
was  so  fond,  that  to  have  opposed  it  in  downright  words  would 
have  given  prejudices  against  all  that  he  could  say. 

Frith,  upon  a  long  conversation  with  one  upon  this  subject, 
was  desired  to  set  down  the  heads  of  it  in  writing,  which  he 
did.  The  paper  went  about,  and  was  by  a  false  brother  con- 
veyed to  sir  Thomas  More's  hands,  who  set  himself  to  answer 
it63  in  his  ordinary  style,  treating  Frith  with  great  contempt, 
[More,  calling  him  always  the  young  man.  Frith  was  in  prison 
before  he  saw  More's  book  ;  yet  he  wrote  a  reply  to  it,  which 
I  do  not  find  was  then 66  published ;  but  a  copy  of  it  was 

65  [A  letter  of  sir  Thomas  More,  the  body  and  bloud  of  Christ :  unto 
knight,  impugning  the  erroniouse  which  boke  are  added  in  the  ende 
wry  ting  of  John  Frith  agaynst  the  the  artycles  of  his  examination  be- 
blessed  sacrament  of  the  aulter.  fore  the  byshoppes  of  London, 
Works,  p.  833.]  Winchester,  and  Lincolne,  in  Paules 

66  [It  was  printed  with  the  follow-  churche  at  London,  for  whych  John 
ing  title  :  "  A  boke  made  by  Johan  Fryth  was  condempned  and  after 
Fryth  prysoner  in  the  towr  of  brente  in  Smythfelde  without  New- 
London  answering  unto  M.  More's  gate,  the  forth  day  of  July.  Anno 
letter  which  he  wrote  against  the  1533-"  Another  edition  of  it  was 
fyrst  lytle  treatyse  that  Johan  Fryth  printed  in  1548  :  "  Now  newely  re- 
made concerning  the  sacrament  of  vised  and  printed  in  the  yeare  of  our 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  275 

brought  afterwards  to  Cranmer,  who  acknowledged,  when  he 
wrote  his  apology  against  Gardiner,  that  he  had  received  great 
light  in  that  matter  from  Frith 's  book,  and  drew  most  of  his 
arguments  out  of  it.  It  was  afterwards  printed  with  his 
works,  anno  157367  :  and  by  it  may  appear,  how  much  truth  is 
stronger  than  error :  for  though  More  wrote  with  as  much  wit 
and  eloquence  as  any  man  in  that  age  did,  and  Frith  wrote 
plainly,  without  any  art ;  yet  there  is  so  great  a  difference  be- 
tween their  books,  that  whoever  compares  them  will  clearly 
perceive  the  one  to  be  the  ingenious  defender  of  an  ill  cause, 
and  the  other  a  simple  assertor  of  truth.  Frith  wrote  with  all 
the  disadvantage  that  was  possible,  being  then  in  the  gaol, 
where  he  could  have  no  books,  but  some  notes  he  might  have 
collected  formerly ;  he  was  also  so  loaded  with  irons,  that  he 
168  could  scarce  sit  with  any  ease.  He  began  with  confirming 
what  he  had  delivered  about  the  fathers  before  Christ,  their 
feeding  on  his  body  in  the  same  manner  that  Christians  do 
since  his  death  :  this  he  proved  from  scripture,  and  several 
places  of  St.  Austin's  works  ;  he  proved  also  from  scripture, 
that,  after  the  consecration,  the  elements  were  still  bread  and 
wine,  and  were  so  called  both  by  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles ; 
that  our  senses  shew  they  are  not  changed  in  their  natures, 
and  that  they  are  still  subject  to  corruption,  which  can  no  way 
be  said  of  the  body  of  Christ.  He  proved  that  the  eating  of 
Christ's  flesh  in  the  sixth  of  St.  John  cannot  be  applied  to  the 
sacrament ;  since  the  wicked  receive  it,  who  yet  do  not  eat  the 
flesh  of  Christ,  otherwise  they  should  have  eternal  life.  He 
shewed  also,  that  the  sacrament  coming  in  the  room  of  the 
Jewish  paschal  lamb,  we  must  understand  Christ's  words,  This 
is  my  body,  in  the  same  sense  in  which  it  was  said,  that  the 
lamb  was  the  Lord's  passover.     He  confirmed  this  by  many 


Lord  1548  the  last  daye  of  June."  W.  Tyndall,  John  Frith,  and  Doct. 

The  last  leaf  of  the  first  edition  states  Barnes,  three  worthy  martyrs,  and 

that   the   book    was    imprinted    at  principall  teachers  of  this  churche 

Monster  anno  1533.     By  me  Con-  of  England,  collected  and  compiled 

rade  Willems.     That  of  the  second  in  one  tome  togither,  beyng  before 

has,     Imprinted     at     London    by  scattered,  and   now   in   print  here 

Anthony    Scoloker    and   Wyllyam  exhibited   to  the  church.     To   the 

Seres  dwelling  without  Aldersgate.]  prayse  of  God   and  profite   of  all 

67  [It  was   printed  in  a  volume  good  Christian  readers.     Lond.  fol. 

entitled    "The    whole    workes    of  an.  1573."] 

T    2 


^76  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

passages  cited  out  of  Tertullian,  Athanasius,  Chrysostom, 
Ambrose,  Jerome,  Austin,  Fulgcntius,  Eusebius,  and  some  later 
writers,  as  Bede,  Bertram,  and  Druthmar,  who  did  all  assert, 
that  the  elements  retained  their  former  natures,  and  were  only 
the  mysteries,  signs,  and  figures  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ.  But  Gelasius'  words  seemed  so  remarkable,  that  they 
could  not  but  determine  the  controversy,  especially  considering 
he  was  bishop  of  Rome :  he  therefore,  writing  against  the 
Eutychians,  who  thought  the  human  nature  of  Christ  was 
changed  into  the  divine,  says,  That  as  the  elements  of  bread 
and  wine,  being  consecrated  to  be  the  sacraments  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  did  not  cease  to  be  bread  and  ivine  in 
substance,  but  continued  in  their  own  'proper  natures ;  so  the 
human  nature  of  Christ  continued  still,  though  it  was  united  to 
the  divine  nature  :  this  was  a  manifest  indication  of  the  belief 
of  the  church  in  that  age,  and  ought  to  weigh  more  than  a 
hundred  high  rhetorical  expressions.  He  brought  likewise 
several  testimonies  out  of  the  fathers,  to  shew,  that  they  knew 
nothing  of  the  consequences  that  follow  transubstantiation  ;  of 
a  body  being  in  more  places  at  once,  or  being  in  a  place  after 
the  manner  of  a  spirit ;  or  of  the  worship  to  be  given  to  the 
sacrament.  Upon  this  he  digresses,  and  says,  that  the  German 
divines  believed  a  corporal  presence  ;  yet  since  that  was  only 
an  opinion  that  rested  in  their  minds,  and  did  not  carry  along 
with  it  any  corruption  of  the  worship,  or  idolatrous  practice,  it 
was  to  be  borne  with,  and  the  peace  of  the  church  was  not  to 
be  broken  for  it :  but  the  case  of  the  church  of  Rome  was  very 
different,  which  had  set  up  gross  idolatry,  building  it  upon  this 
doctrine. 

Thus  I  have  given  a  short  abstract  of  Frith's  book,  which  I 
thought  fit  the  rather  to  do,  because  it  was  the  first  book  that 
was  written  on  this  subject  in  England  by  any  of  the  reformers. 
And  from  hence  it  may  appear,  upon  what  solid  and  weighty 
reasons  they  then  began  to  shake  the  received  opinion  of 
transubstantiation  ;  and  with  how  much  learning  this  contro- 
versy was  managed  by  him  who  first  undertook  it. 

One  thing  was  singular  in  Frith's  opinion,  that  he  thought 
there  should  be  no  contest  made  about  the  manner  of  Christ's 
presence  in  the  sacrament  ;  for  whatever  opinion  men  held  in 
speculation,  if  it  went  not  to  a  practical  error,  (which  was,  the  169 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  277 

adoration  of  it,  for  that  was  idolatry  in  his  opinion,)  there  were 
no  disputes  to  be  made  about  it :  therefore  he  was  much 
against  all  heats  between  the  Lutherans  and  Zuinglians;  for 
he  thought  in  such  a  matter,  that  was  wholly  speculative,  every 
man  might  hold  his  own  opinion  Avithout  making  a  breach  of 
the  unity  of  the  church  about  it. 

He  was  apprehended  in  May  1533,  and  kept  in  prison  till 
the  twentieth  of  June  ;  and  then  he  was  brought  before  the 
bishop  of  London,  Gardiner,  and  Longland  sitting  with  him. 
They  obiected  to  him  his  opinions  about  the  sacrament  and  Eegistr. 
purgatory.     He  answered,  that,  for  the  first,  he  did  not  find  '7I  an(ja  ' 
transubstantiation    in    the    scriptures,    nor    in   any   approved  letter  of  his 
authors  ;  and  therefore  he  would  not  admit  any  thing  as  an  rv0l.  ii. 
article  of  faith,  without  clear  and  certain  grounds  :    for  he  did  P- 254^ 
not  think  the  authority  of  the  church  reached  so  far.     They 
argued  with  him  upon  some  passages  out  of  St.  Austin  and 
St.  Chrysostom  :    to  which  he  answered,  by  opposing  other 
places  of  the  same  fathers,  and  shewed  how  they  were  to  be 
reconciled  to  themselves  :  when  it  came  to  a  conclusion,  these 
words  are  set  down  in  the  register  as  his  confession. 

"Frith  thinketh  and  judgeth,   that  the   natural   body  of  His  opinion 
"  Christ  is  not  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  but  in  one  place  crament . 
"  only  at  once.    Item,  he  saith,  that  neither  part  is  a  necessary 
"  article  of  our  faith,  whether  the  natural  body  be  there  in  the 
"  sacrament,  or  not." 

As  for  purgatory,  he  said  a  man  consisted  of  two  parts,  his 
body  and  soul ;  his  body  was  purged  by  sickness  and  other 
pains,  and  at  last  by  death,  and  was  not  by  their  own  doctrine 
sent  to  purgatory.  And  for  the  soul,  it  was  purged  through 
the  word  of  God  received  by  faith.  So  his  confession  was 
written  down  in  these  words.  "  Item,  Frith  thinketh  and  And  of 
"  judgeth,  that  there  is  no  purgatory  for  the  soul,  after  that  it  purga  ory' 
"  is  departed  from  the  body ;  and  as  he  thinketh  herein,  so 
"  hath  he  said,  written,  and  defended :  howbeit  he  thinketh 
"  neither  part  to  be  an  article  of  faith,  necessarily  to  be 
"  believed  under  pain  of  damnation." 

The  bishops,  with  the  doctors  that  stood  about  them,  took 
much  pains  to  make  him  change;  but  he  told  them,  that  he 
could  not  be  induced  to  believe  that  these  were  articles  of 
faith.     And  when  they  threatened  to  proceed  to  a  final  sen- 


278  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

tence,  he  seemed  not  moved  with  it,  but  said,  Let  judgment  be 

done  in  righteousness.     The  bishops,  though  none  of  them 

were  guilty  of  great  tenderness,  yet  seemed  to  pity  him  much  ; 

and  the  bishop  of  London  professed,  he  gave  sentence  with 

He  is  con-  great  grief  of  heart.     In  the  end,  he  was  judged  an  obstinate 

demned.      lieretic,  and  was  delivered  to  the  secular  power.     There  is 

one  clause  in  this  sentence,  which  is   not  in  many  others ; 

therefore  I  shall  set  it  down. 

[Ibid.  "  Most  earnestly  requiring,  in  the  bowels  of  our  Lord  Jesus 

"  Christ,  that  this  execution  and  punishment,  worthily  to  be 

"  done  upon  thee,  may  be  so  moderate,  that  the  rigour  thereof 

"  be  not  too  extreme,  nor  yet  the  gentleness  too  much  mitigated, 

"  but  that  it  may  be  to  the  salvation  of  thy  soul,  to  the  extir- 

"  pation,  terror,  and  conversion  of  heretics,  and  to  the  unity  of 

"  the  catholic  faith."     This  was  thought  a  scorning  of  God 

and  men,  when  those,  who  knew  that  he  was  to  be  burnt,  170 

and  intended  it  should  be  so,  yet  used  such  an  obtestation 

by  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  rigour  might  not  be 

extreme.     This  being  certified,  the  writ  was  issued  out ;   and, 

as  the  register  bears,  he  was  burnt  in  Smithfield  the  fourth  of 

July,  and  one  Andrew  Hewet  with  him,  who  also  denied  the 

presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar.     This  Hewet 

was  an  apprentice,  and  went  to  the  meetings  of  these  preachers, 

and  was  twice   betrayed  by  some  spies,  whom  the  bishops'1 

officers  had  among  them,  who  discovered  many.     When  he 

was  examined,  he  would  not  acknowledge  the  corporal  presence, 

but  was  illiterate,  and  resolved  to  do  as  Frith  did ;   so  he  was 

also  condemned,  and  burnt  with  him. 

His  con-         When  they  were  brought  to  the  stake,  Frith  expressed  great 

his'siffFer-   J°y  a*  k*s  approaching  martyrdom  ;    and,  in  a  transport  of  it, 

ings.  hugged  the  fagots  in  his  arms,  as  the  instruments  that  were  to 

[Ibid.         send  him  to  his  eternal  rest.     One  doctor  Cook,  a  parson  of 

p-  256-l       London,  called  to  the  people,  that  they  should  not  pray  for 

them  any  more  than  they  would  do  for  a  dog.    At  which  Frith 

smiled,  and  prayed  God  to  forgive  him  ;   so  the  fire  was  set  to, 

and  they  were  consumed  to  ashes. 

This  was  the  last  act  of  the  clergy's  cruelty  against  men's 
lives,  and  was  much  condemned :  it  was  thought  an  unheard-of 
barbarity,  thus  to  burn  a  moderate  and  learned  young  man, 
only  because  ho  would  not  acknowledge  some  of  their  doctrines 


book  il]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1533.)  279 

to  be  articles  of  faith ;  and  though  his  private  judgment  was 
against  their  tenet,  yet  he  was  not  positive  in  it  any  further, 
than  that  he  could  not  believe  the  contrary  to  be  necessary 
to  salvation.  But  the  clergy  were  now  so  bathed  in  blood, 
that  they  seemed  to  have  stript  themselves  of  those  impressions 
of  pity  and  compassion  which  are  natural  to  mankind  ;  they 
therefore  held  on  in  their  severe  courses,  till  the  act  of  parlia- 
ment did  effectually  restrain  them. 

In  the  account  that  was  given  of  that  act,  mention  was  made  Philips' 
of  one  Thomas  Philips,  who  put  in  his  complaint  to  the  house  m^™58' 
of  commons  against  the  bishop  of  London.  The  proceedings  p-  262.] 
against  him  had  been  both  extreme  and  illegal :  he  was  first 
apprehended,  and  put  in  the  Tower  upon  suspicion  of  heresy ; 
and  when  they  searched  him,  a  copy  of  Tracy's  testament  was 
found  about  him,  and  butter  and  cheese  were  found  in  his 
chamber,  it  being  in  the  time  of  Lent.  There  was  also  another 
letter  found  about  him,  exhorting  him  to  be  ready  to  suffer 
constantly  for  the  truth.  Upon  these  presumptions  the  bishop 
of  London  proceeded  against  him,  and  required  him  to  abjure. 
But  he  said,  he  would  willingly  swear  to  be  obedient,  as  a 
Christian  man  ought,  and  that  he  would  never  hold  any  heresy 
during  his  life,  nor  favour  heretics :  but  the  bishop  would  not 
accept  of  that,  since  there  might  be  ambiguities  in  it:  therefore 
he  required  him  to  make  the  abjuration  in  common  form  ; 
which  he  refused  to  do,  and  appealed  to  the  king  as  the 
supreme  head  of  the  church.  Yet  the  bishop  pronounced  him 
contumax,  and  did  excommunicate  him  :  but  whether  he  was 
released  on  his  appeal,  or  not,  I  do  not  find ;  yet  perhaps  this 
was  the  man  of  whom  the  pope  complained  to  the  English 
ambassadors,  1532,  that  an  heretic,  having  appealed  to  the 
king  as  the  supreme  head  of  the  church,  was  taken  out  of  the 
bishop's  hands,  and  judged  and  acquitted  in  the  king's  courts. 
171  It  is  probable  this  was  the  man ;  only  the  pope  was  informed, 
that  it  was  from  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  that  he  appealed, 
in  which  there  might  be  a  mistake  for  the  bishop  of  London. 
But  whatever  ground  there  may  be  for  that  conjecture,  Philips* 
got  his  liberty,  and  put  in  a  complaint  to  the  house  of  commons, 
which  produced  the  act  about  heretics. 

And  now  that  act  being  passed,  together  with  the  extirpation  A  stop  is 
of  the  pope's  authority,  and  the  power  being  lodged  in  the  JjJ^86 

ceedings. 


280  THE   HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

king  to  correct  and  reform  heresies,  idolatries,  and  abuses ; 
the  standard  of  the  catholic  faith  being;  also  declared  to  be  the 
scriptures  ;  the  persecuted  preachers  had  ease  and  encourage- 
ment every  where.  They  also  saw  that  the  necessity  of  the 
king's  affairs  would  constrain  him  to  be  gentle  to  them  ;  for 
the  sentence  which  the  pope  gave  against  the  king  was  com- 
mitted to  the  emperor  to  be  executed  by  him,  who  was  then 
aspiring  to  an  universal  monarchy  ;  and  therefore,  as  soon  as 
his  other  wars  gave  him  leisure  to  look  over  to  England  and 
Ireland,  he  had  now  a  good  colour  to  justify  an  invasion,  both 
from  the  pope's  sentence,  and  the  interests  and  honour  of  his 
family,  in  protecting  his  aunt  and  her  daughter :  therefore  the 
king  was  to  give  him  work  elsewhere  ;  in  order  to  which,  his 
interest  obliged  him  to  join  himself  to  the  princes  of  Germany, 
who  had  at  Smalcald  entered  into  a  league  offensive  and 
defensive,  for  the  liberty  of  religion,  and  the  rights  of  the 
empire.  This  was  a  thorn  in  the  emperor's  side,  which  the 
king's  interest  would  oblige  him  by  all  means  to  maintain. 
Upon  which  the  reformers  in  England  concluded,  that  either 
the  king,  to  recommend  himself  to  these  princes,  would  relax 
the  severities  of  the  law  against  them  ;  or  otherwise,  that  their 
f^l^nds  in  Germany  would  see  to  it :  for  in  these  first  fervours 
of  ref orations  -tha_princes  made  that  always  a  condition  in 
their  treaties,  that  those  who  fpyoured  their  doctrine  might  be 
no  more  persecuted. 
The  queen  But  their  chief  encouragement  was  from  the  queen,  who 
favoured      rejo>ned  in  the  king's  heart  as  absolutely  as  he  did  over  his 

the  reform-        »  ,  o  J 

ers.  subjects ;  and  was  a  known  favourer  of  them.    She  took  Shax- 

ton  and  Latimer  to  be  her  chaplains,  and  soon  after  promoted 
them  to  the  bishoprics  of  Salisbury  and  Worcester,  then  vacant 
by  the  deprivation  of  Campeggio  and  Ghinucci ;    and  in  all 
other  things    cherished   and  protected  them ;    and  used  her 
most  effectual  endeavours  with  the  king  to  promote  the  re- 
Cranmer     formation.     Next  to  her,  Cranmer,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
thTre-6      was  a  Professed  favourer  of  it;  who,  besides  the  authority  of 
formation,  •his  character  and  see,  was  well  fitted  for  carrying  it  on,  being 
a  very  learned  and  industrious  man.     He  was  at  great  pains 
to  collect  the  sense  of  ancient  writers  upon  all  the  heads  of 
religion,  by  which  he  might  be  well  directed  in  such  an  im- 
portant matter.    I  have  seen  two  volumes  in  folio,  written  with 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  281 

his  own  hand,  containing,  upon  all  the  heads  of  religion,  a  vast 
heap  both  of  places  of  scripture,  and  quotations  out  of  ancient 
fathers,  and  later  doctors  and  schoolmen ;  by  which  he  go- 
verned himself  in  that  work.  There  is  also  an  original  letter 
of  the  lord  Burghley's  extant,  which  I  have  seen,  in  which  he 
writes,  that  he  had  six  or  seven  volumes  of  his  writings ;  all 
which,  except  two  other  that  I  have  seen,  are  lost,  for  aught  I 
can  understand.  From  which  it  will  appear,  in  the  sequel  of 
this  work,  that  he  neither  copied  from  foreign  writers,  nor 
proceeded  rashly  in  the  reformation.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
temper ;  and,  as  I  have  seen  in  some  of  his  letters  to  Osiander,  [Letter 
172  and  some  of  Osiander's  answers  to  him,  he  very  much  disliked  cclxxu- 

.  P-  4°4J 

the  violence  of  the  German  divines.  He  was  gentle  in  his 
whole  behaviour ;  and  though  he  was  a  man  of  too  great  can- 
dour and  simplicity  to  be  refined  in  the  arts  of  policy,  yet  he 
managed  his  affairs  with  great  prudence :  which  did  so  much 
recommend  him  to  the  king,  that  no  ill  offices  were  ever  able 
to  hurt  him.  It  is  true,  he  had  some  singular  opinions  about 
ecclesiastical  functions  and  offices,  which  he  seemed  to  make 
wholly  dependent  on  the  magistrate,  as  much  as  the  civil  were  : 
but  as  he  never  studied  to  get  his  opinion  in  that  made  a  part 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  reserving  only  to  himself  the 
freedom  of  his  own  thoughts,  which  I  have  reason  to  think  he 
did  afterwards  either  change,  or  at  least  was  content  to  be 
overruled  in  it ;  so  it  is  clear,  that  he  held  not  that  opinion  to 
get  the  king's  favour  by  it ;  for  in  many  other  things,  as  in 
the  business  of  the  six  articles,  he  boldly  and  freely  argued, 
both  in  the  convocation  and  the  house  of  peers,  against  that 
which  he  knew  was  the  king's  mind,  and  took  his  life  in  his 
hands,  which  had  certainly  been  offered  at  a  stake,  if  the 
king's  esteem  of  him  had  not  been  proof  against  all  attempts. 

Next  him,  or  rather  above  him,  was  Cromwell,  who  was  Assisted  by 
made  the  king's  vicegerent  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  A  man  Cromwe11- 
of  mean  birth,  but  noble  qualities ;  as  appeared  in  two  signal 
instances :  the  one  being,  his  pleading  in  parliament  so  zeal- 
ously and  successfully  for  the  fallen  and  disgraced  cardinal, 
whose  secretary  he  was  when  Gardiner,  though  more  obliged 
by  him,  had  basely  forsaken  him.  This  was  thought  so  just 
and  generous  in  him,  that  it  did  not  at  all  hinder  his  prefer- 
ment, but  raised  his  credit  higher :    such  a  demonstration  of 


282  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

gratitude  and  friendship  in  misfortune  being  so  rare  a  thing 
in  a  court.  The  other  was,  his  remembering  the  merchant  of 
Lucca,  that  had  pitied  and  relieved  him  when  he  was  a  poor 
stranger  there,  and  expressing  most  extraordinary  acknow- 
ledgments and  gratitude,  when  he  was  afterwards  in  the  top 
of  his  greatness ;  and  the  other  did  not  so  much  as  know  him, 
much  less  pretend  to  any  returns  for  past  favours,  which  shew- 
ed that  he  had  a  noble  and  generous  temper :  only  he  made 
too  much  haste  to  be  great  and  rich.  He  joined  himself  in  a 
firm  friendship  to  Cranmer,  and  did  promote  the  reformation 
very  vigorously. 
The  duke  But  there  was  another  party  in  the  court  that  wrestled  much 
and  Gardi-  against  it ;  the  head  of  it  was  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  who,  though 
neropposed  ne  was  the  queen's  uncle,  yet  was  her  mortal  enemy.  He  was 
a  dextrous  courtier,  and  complied  with  the  king  both  in  his 
divorce  and  separation  from  Home,  yet  did  upon  all  occasions 
persuade  the  king  to  innovate  nothing  in  religion.  His  great 
friend,  that  joined  all  along  with  him  in  those  counsels,  was 
Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  who  was  a  crafty  and  politic 
man,  and  understood  the  king  well,  and  complied  with  his 
temper  in  every  thing :  he  despised  Cranmer,  and  hated  all 
reformation.  Longland,  that  had  been  the  king's  confessor, 
was  also  managed  by  them ;  and  they  had  a  great  party  in 
the  court,  and  almost  all  the  churchmen  were  on  their  side. 
Reasons  That  which  prevailed  most  with  the  king  was,  that  himself 

reforma*  &  nac^  wr^  a  D00^  m  defence  of  the  faith  ;  and  they  said,  would 
tion.  }ie  now  retract  that,  which  all  learned  men  admired  so  much  ? 

or  would  he  encourage  Luther  and  his  party,  who  had  treated 
him  with  so  little  respect  ?  If  he  went  to  change  the  doc- 173 
trines  that  were  formerly  received,  all  the  world  would  say  he 
did  it  in  spite  to  the  pope,  which  would  cast  a  great  dishonour 
on  him,  as  if  his  passion  governed  his  religion.  Foreign 
princes,  who  in  their  hearts  did  not  much  blame  him  for  what 
lie  had  hitherto  done,  but  rather  wished  for  a  good  opportunity 
to  do  the  like,  would  now  condemn  him  if  he  meddled  with  the 
religion :  and  his  own  subjects,  who  complied  with  that  which 
he  had  done,  and  were  glad  to  be  delivered  from  foreign  juris- 
diction, and  the  exactions  of  the  court  of  Rome,  would  not 
bear  a  change  of  the  faith,  but  might  be  thereby  easily  set  on, 
by  the  emissaries  of  the  pope  or  emperor,  to  break  out  in  re- 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  283 

bellion.  These  things  being  managed  skilfully,  and  agreeing 
with  his  own  private  opinion,  wrought  much  on  him  :  and  par- 
ticularly, what  was  said  about  his  own  book,  which  had  been 
so  much  commended  to  him,  that  he  was  almost  made  believe 
it  was  written  by  a  special  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

But,  on  the  other  side,  Cranmer  represented  to  him,  that  Reasons 
since  he  had  put  down  the  pope's  authority,  it  was  not  fit  to 
let  those  doctrines  be  still  taught,  which  had  no  other  founda- 
tion but  the  decrees  of  popes  :  and  he  offered  upon  the  greatest 
hazard  to  prove,  that  many  things,  then  received  as  articles  of 
faith,  were  no  better  grounded  ;  therefore  he  pressed  the  king- 
to  give  order,  to  hear  and  examine  things  freely,  that,  when 
the  pope's  power  was  rejected,  the  people  might  not  be  obliged 
to  believe  doctrines  which  had  no  better  warrant.  And  for 
political  councils,  he  was  to  do  the  duty  of  a  good  Christian 
prince,  and  leave  the  event  to  God ;  and  things  might  be 
carried  on  with  that  due  care,  that  the  justice  and  reasonable- 
ness of  the  king's  proceedings  should  appear  to  all  the  world. 
And  whereas  it  was  objected,  that  the  doctrines  of  the  catholic 
church  ought  not  to  be  examined  by  any  particular  church ;  it 
was  answered,  that  when  all  Christendom  were  under  one 
emperor,  it  was  easy  for  him  to  call  general  councils,  and  in 
such  circumstances  it  was  fit  to  stay  for  one ;  and  yet,  even 
then,  particular  churches  did  in  their  national  synods  condemn 
heresies,  and  reform  abuses.  But  the  state  of  Christendom 
was  now  altered :  it  was  under  many  princes,  who  had  differ- 
ent interests,  and  therefore  they  thought  it  a  vain  expectation 
to  look  for  any  such  council.  The  protestants  of  Germany 
had  now  for  above  ten  years  desired  the  emperor  to  procure 
one,  but  to  no  effect ;  for  sometimes  the  pope  would  not  grant 
it,  and  at  other  times  the  French  king  protested  against  it. 
The  former  year  the  pope  had  sent  to  the  king  to  offer  a 
general  council  to  be  held  at  Mantua  this  year ;  but  the  king  Hall.  [p. 
found  that  was  but  an  illusion  ;  for  the  marquis  of  Mantua  797-J 
protested,  he  would  not  admit  such  a  number  of  strangers,  as 
a  council  would  draw  together,  into  his  town :  yet  the  king 
promised  to  send  his  ambassadors  thither,  when  the  council 
met.  But  now  the  king  consulting  his  prelates  whether  the 
emperor  might  by  his  authority  summon  a  general  council,  as 
the  Roman  emperors  had  done ;  some  of  them  gave  the  follow- 


284  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

A  resolu-  ing  answer,  copied  from  the  original  that  is  yet  extant,  -which 
somebi-  might  have  been  written  any  time  between  the  year  1534,  in 
shopsabout  which  Thomas  Goodrich  was  made  bishop  of  Ely,  and  the  year 
of  a  general  1540,  in  which  John  Clerk,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  died: 
council.  kut  j  incline  to  think,  from  other  circumstances,  that  it  was 
written  about  the  end  of  the  year  1534  C7. 

For  the  General  Council. 
Ex  MSS.  "  Though  that  in  the  old  time,  when  the  empire  of  Rome  174 
Hno-fleet  "  na^  his  ample  dominion  over  the  most  part  of  the  world,  the 
[State  Pa-  "  ^rs^  f°ur  general  councils  (the  which  at  all  times  have  been 
pers,  vol.  i.  "  0f  most  estimation  in  the  church  of  Christ)  were  called  and 
84.  p.  543.]  "  gathered  by  the  emperor's  commandment,  and  for  a  godly 
"  intent :  that  heresies  might  be  extinct,  schisms  put  away, 
"  good  order  and  manners  in  the  ministers  of  the  church  and 
"  the  people  of  the  same  established.  Like  as  many  councils 
"  more  were  called  :  till  now  of  late,  by  the  negligence,  as  well 
"  of  the  emperor,  as  other  princes,  the  bishop  of  Rome  hath 
"  been  suffered  to  usurp  this  power ;  yet  now  for  so  much 
"  that  the  empire  of  Rome,  and  the  monarchy  of  the  same, 
"  hath  no  such  general  dominion ;  but  many  princes  have 
"  absolute  power  in  their  own  realms,  and  a  whole  and  entire 
"  monarchy,  no  one  prince  may  by  his  authority  call  any 
"  general  council ;  but  if  that  any  one  or  more  of  these  princes, 
"  for  the  establishing  of  the  faith,  for  the  extirpation  of  schisms, 
"  &c.  lovingly,  charitably,  with  a  good  sincere  intent,  to  a  sure 
"  place,  require  any  other  prince,  or  the  rest  of  the  great 
"  princes,  to  be  content  to  agree,  that  for  the  wealth,  quiet- 
(i  ness,  and  tranquillity  of  all  Christian  people,  by  his  or  their 
"  free  consent,  a  general  council  might  be  assembled :  that 
"  prince,  or  those  princes  so  required,  are  bound  by  the  order 
"  of  charity,  for  the  good  fruit  that  may  come  of  it,  to  con- 
"  descend  and  agree  thereunto,  having  no  lawful  impediment, 
"  nor  just  cause  moving  to  the  contrary.  The  chief  causes  of 
"  the  general  councils  are  before  expressed. 

"  In  all  the  ancient  councilsof  the  church,  in  matters  of  the 
"  faith  and  interpretation  of  the  scripture,  no  man  made  dcfini- 

67  [The  copy  of  this  document  in     proves  that  the  date  is  between  1535 
the  State  Paper  Office  is  signed  by     and  1538.] 
Hilsey  bishop  of  Rochester :    this 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  285 

"  tivc  subscription,  but  bishops  and  priests,  for  so  much  as  the 
"  declaration  of  the  word  of  God  pertaineth  unto  them. 

"  T.  Cantuarien. 

"  Cuthbertus  Dunelmens. 

«  Jo.  Bat.  Wellens. 

"  Thomas  Elien." 

But,  besides  this  resolution,  I  have  seen  a  long  speech  of  A  speech  of 

_  .  „  ,  .  ,      .  Tl  •.  Cranmer's 

Cranmer  s,  written  by  one  ot  his  secretaries.     It  was  spoken  about  a 

soon  after  the  parliament  had  passed  the  acts  formerly  men-  general 

i  •  ii-!  counci1- 

tioned,  for  it  relates  to  them  as  lately  done :  it  was  delivered 

either  in  the  house  of  lords,  the  upper  house  of  convocation,  or 
at  the  council  board ;  but  I  rather  think  it  was  in  the  house 
of  lords,  for  it  begins,  My  lords.  The  matter  of  it  does  so 
175  much  concern  the  business  of  reformation,  that  I  know  the 
reader  will  expect  I  should  set  down  the  heads  of  it.  It  ap- 
pears he  had  been  ordered  to  inform  the  house  about  these 
things.  The  preamble  of  his  speech  runs  upon  this  conceit : 
"  That  as  rich  men,  flying  from  their  enemies,  carry  away  all  Ex  MSS- 
"  they  can  with  them,  and  what  they  cannot  take  away,  they  Hngfleet68. 
"  either  hide  or  destroy  it ;  so  the  court  of  Rome  had  destroyed 
"  so  many  ancient  writings,  and  hid  the  rest,  having  carefully 
"  preserved  every  thing  that  was  of  advantage  to  them,  that 
"  it  was  not  easy  to  discover  what  they  had  so  artificially  con- 
"  cealed  :  therefore,  in  the  canon  law,  some  honest  truths  were 
"  yet  to  be  found,  but  so  mislaid,  that  they  are  not  placed 
"  where  one  might  expect  them ;  but  are  to  be  met  with  in 
"  some  other  chapters,  where  one  would  least  look  for  them. 
"  And  many  more  things,  said  by  the  ancients  of  the  see  of 
"  Rome,  and  against  their  authority,  were  lost,  as  appears  by 
"  the  fragments  yet  remaining.  He  shewed,  that  many  of  the 
"  ancients  called  every  thing  which  they  thought  well  done,  of 
"  divine  institution,  by  a  large  extent  of  the  phrase,  in  Avhich 
"  sense  the  passages  of  many  fathers,  that  magnified  the  see 
"  of  Rome,  were  to  be  understood. 

"  Then  he  shewed,  for  what  end  general  councils  were 
"  called ;  to  declare  the  faith,  and  reform  errors  :  not  that 
"  ever  any  council  was  truly  general,  for  even  at  Nice  there 

68  [This  paper  is  not  amongst  the  Stillingfleet  MSS.  in  Lambeth  library. 
See  Jenkyns'  Cranmer,  vol.  ii.  p.  n.] 


286  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  were  no  bishops  almost  but  out  of  Egypt,  Asia,  and  Greece ; 
u  but  they  were  called  general,  because  the  emperor  summoned 
"  them,  and  all  Christendom  did  agree  to  their  definitions, 
"  which  he  proved  by  several  authorities :  therefore,  though 
"  there  were  many  more  bishops  in  the  council  of  Ariminum, 
"  than  at  Nice  or  Constantinople,  yet  the  one  was  not  received 
"  as  a  general  council,  and  the  others  were :  so  that  it  was  not 
"  the  number,  nor  authority  of  the  bishops,  but  the  matter  of 
"  their  decisions,  which  made  them  be  received  with  so  general 
"  a  submission. 

"  As  for  the  head  of  the  council :  St.  Peter  and  St.  James 
"  had  the  chief  direction  of  the  council  of  the  apostles,  but 
"  there  were  no  contests  then  about  headship.  Christ  named 
"  no  head ;  which  could  be  no  more  called  a  defect  in  him, 
"  than  it  was  one  in  God,  that  had  named  no  head  to  govern 
"  the  world.  Yet  the  church  found  it  convenient  to  have  one 
"  over  them,  so  archbishops  were  set  over  provinces.  And 
"  though  St.  Peter  had  been  head  of  the  apostles,  yet  as  it  is 
"  not  certain  that  he  was  ever  in  Rome,  so  it  does  not  appear, 
"  that  he  had  his  headship  for  Rome's  sake,  or  that  he  left  it 
"  there ;  but  he  was  made  head  for  his  faith,  and  not  for  the 
u  dignity  of  any  see :  therefore  the  bishops  of  Rome  could 
"  pretend  to  nothing  from  him,  but  as  they  followed  his  faith ; 
"  and  Liberius,  and  some  other  bishops  there,  had  been  con- 
"  demned  for  heresy  ;  and  if,  according  to  St.  James,  faith  be 
"  to  be  tried  by  works,  the  lives  of  the  popes  for  several  ages 
"  gave  shrewd  presumptions,  that  their  faith  was  not  good. 
"  And  though  it  were  granted  that  such  a  power  was  given  to 
"  the  see  of  Rome,  yet  by  many  instances  he  shewed,  that 
"  positive  precepts,  in  a  matter  of  that  nature,  were  not  for 
"  ever  obligatory.  And  therefore  Gerson  wrote  a  book,  De 
"  Auferibilitate  Papce.  So  that  if  a  pope  with  the  cardinals  1 76 
"  be  corrupted,  they  ought  to  be  tried  by  a  general  council, 
"  and  submit  to  it.  St.  Peter  gave  an  account  of  his  baptizing 
"  Cornelius,  when  he  was  questioned  about  it.  So  Damasus, 
u  Sixtus,  and  Leo,  purged  themselves  of  some  scandals. 

"  Then  he  shewed  how  corrupt  the  present  pope  was,  both 
"  in  his  person  and  government,  for  which  he  was  abhorred, 
"  even  by  some  of  his  cardinals,  as  himself  had  heard  and  seen 
"  at  Rome.     It  is  true,  there  was  no  law  to  proceed  against  a 


book  ii.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1534.)  287 

vicious  pope,  for  it  was  a  thing  not  foreseen,  and  thought 
scarcely  possible ;  but  new  diseases  required  new  remedies : 
and  if  a  pope  that  is  an  heretic  may  be  judged  in  a  council, 
the  same  reason  would  hold  against  a  simoniacal,  covetous, 
and  impious  pope,  who  was  salt  that  had  lost  its  savour. 
And  by  several  authorities  he  proved,  that  every  man  who 
lives  so  is  thereby  out  of  the  communion  of  the  church  ;  and 
that,  as  the  preeminence  of  the  see  of  Rome  flowed  only 
from  the  laws  of  men,  so  there  was  now  good  cause  to  repeal 
these,  for  the  pope,  as  was  said  in  the  council  of  Basle,  was 
only  vicar  of  the  church,  and  not  of  Christ ;  so  he  was  ac- 
countable to  the  church.  The  council  of  Constance,  and  the 
divines  of  Paris,  had,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  ancient 
church,  declared  the  pope  to  be  subject  to  a  general  council, 
which  many  popes  in  former  ages  had  confessed.  And  all 
that  the  pope  can  claim,  even  by  the  canon  law,  is,  only  to 
call  and  preside  in  a  general  council ;  but  not  to  overrule  it, 
or  have  a  negative  vote  in  it. 

"  The  power  of  councils  did  not  extend  to  princes,  domin- 
ions, or  secular  matters,  but  only  to  points  of  faith,  which 
they  were  to  declare ;  and  to  condemn  heretics :  nor  were 
their  decrees  laws,  till  they  were  enacted  by  princes.  Upon 
this  he  enlarged  much,  to  shew,  that  though  a  council  did 
proceed  against  a  king,  (with  which  they  then  threatened 
the  king.)  that  their  sentence  was  of  no  force,  as  being  with- 
out their  sphere.  The  determination  of  councils  ought  to 
be  well  considered  and  examined  by  the  scriptures ;  and  in 
matters  indifferent,  men  ought  to  be  left  to  their  freedom. 
He  taxed  the  severity  of  Victor's  proceedings  against  the 
churches  of  the  East,  about  the  day  of  Easter  :  and  con- 
cluded, that,  as  a  member  of  the  body  is  not  cut  off,  except 
a  gangrene  comes  in  it ;  so  no  part  of  the  church  ought  to 
be  cut  off,  but  upon  a  great  and  inevitable  cause.  And  he 
very  largely  shewed,  with  what  moderation  and  charity  the 
church  should  proceed  even  against  those  that  held  errors. 
And  the  standard  of  the  council's  definitions  should  only  be 
taken  from  the  scriptures,  and  not  from  men's  traditions. 
"  He  said,  some  general  councils  had  been  rejected  by 
others ;  and  it  was  a  tender  point,  how  much  ought  to  be 
deferred  to  a  council :  some  decrees  of  councils  were  not  at 


288  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  all  obeyed.  The  divines  of  Paris  held,  that  a  council  could 
11  not  make  a  new  article  of  faith,  that  was  not  in  the  scrip- 
"  tures.  And  as  all  God's  promises  to  the  people  of  Israel 
"  had  this  condition  implied  within  them,  If  they  kept  his 
"  commandments ;  so  he  thought  the  promises  to  the  Christian 
"  church  had  this  condition  in  them,  If  they  kept  the  faith. 
"  Therefore  he  had  much  doubting  in  himself  as  to  general  177 
"  councils ;  and  he  thought  that  only  the  word  of  God  was 
"  the  rule  of  faith,  which  ought  to  take  place  in  all  controver- 
"  sies  of  religion.  The  scriptures  were  called  canonical,  as 
"  being  the  only  rules  of  the  faith  of  Christians ;  and  these, 
"  by  appointment  of  the  ancient  councils  were  only  to  be  read 
"  in  the  churches.  The  fathers  SS.  Ambrose,  Jerome,  and 
"  Austin,  did  in  many  things  differ  from  one  another ;  but 
"  always  appealed  to  the  scriptures,  as  the  common  and  certain 
"  standard.  And  he  cited  some  remarkable  passage  out  of 
"  St.  Austin,  to  shew,  what  difference  he  put  between  the  scrip- 
"  tures,  and  all  the  other  writings  even  of  the  best  and  holiest 
"  fathers.  But  when  all  the  fathers  agreed  in  the  exposition 
"  of  any  place  of  scripture,  he  acknowledged  he  looked  on  that 
"  as  flowing  from  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  it  was  a  most  dan- 
"  gerous  thing  to  be  wise  in  our  own  conceit :  therefore  he 
(t  thought  councils  ought  to  found  their  decisions  on  the 
"  word  of  God,  and  those  expositions  of  it  that  had  been 
"  agreed  on  by  the  doctors  of  the  church. 

"  Then  he  discoursed  very  largely  what  a  person  a  judge 
"  ought  to  be ;  he  must  not  be  partial,  nor  a  judge  in  his  own 
"  cause,  nor  so  much  as  sit  on  the  bench  when  it  is  tried,  lest 
"  his  presence  should  overawe  others.  Things  also  done  upon 
"  a  common  error  cannot  bind,  when  the  error  upon  which 
"  they  were  done  comes  to  be  discovered ;  and  all  human  laws 
11  ought  to  be  changed,  when  a  public  visible  inconvenience 
"  follows  them.  From  which  he  concluded,  that  the  pope, 
"  being  a  party,  and  having  already  passed  his  sentence,  in 
"  things  which  ought  to  be  examined  by  a  general  council, 
"  could  not  be  a  judge,  nor  sit  in  it.  Princes  also,  who,  upon 
"  a  common  mistake,  thinking  the  pope  head  of  the  church, 
"  had  sworn  to  him,  finding  that  this  was  done  upon  a  false 
"  ground,  may  pull  their  neck  out  of  his  yoke,  as  every  man 
"  may  make  his  escape  out  of  the  hands  of  a  robber.     And 


book  ii.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1534.)  280 

"  the  court  of  Rome  was  so  corrupt,  that  a  pope,  though  he 
"  meant  well,  as  Adrian  did,  yet  could  never  bring  any  good 
"  design  to  an  issue ;  the  cardinals  and  the  rest  of  that  court 
"  being  so  engaged  to  maintain  their  corruptions."  These 
were  the  heads  of  that  discourse,  which  it  seems  he  gave  them 
in  writing  after  he  had  delivered  it ;  but  he  promised  to  enter- 
tain them  with  another  discourse,  of  the  power  the  bishops  of 
the  Christian  church  have  in  their  sees,  and  of  the  power  of  a 
Christian  prince  to  make  them  do  their  duty :  but  that  I  could 
never  see,  and  I  am  afraid  it  is  lost. 

All  this  I  thought  necessary  to  open,  to  shew  the  state  of 
the  court,  and  the  principles  that  the  several  parties  in  it  went 
upon,  when  the  reformation  was  first  brought  under  considera- 
tion in  the  third  period  of  this  king's  reign ;  to  which  I  am 
now  advanced. 


THE    END    OP    THE    SECOND    BOOK. 


BURNET,  PART  I. 


THE  HISTORY 


OF 


THE    REFORMATION 


OP 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 


PART  L— BOOK  III. 


Of  the  other  transactions  about  religion  and  reformation, 
during  the  rest  of  the  reign  of  king  Henry  the  Eighth. 

The  rest  of  _^  jjg  king?  having  passed  through  the  traverses  and  tossings 
reign   c      of  his  suit  of  divorce,  and  having,  with  the  concurrence  both  of 
trouble-      k*s  clergy  and  parliament,  brought  about  what  he  had  pro- 
some,         jected,  seemed  now  at  ease  in  his  own  dominions.     But  though 
matters  were  carried  in  public  assemblies  smoothly  and  suc- 
cessfully, yet  there  were  many  secret  discontents,  which,  being 
fomented  both  by  the  pope  and  the  emperor's  agents,  wrought 
him  great  trouble;    so  that  the  rest  of  his  life  was  full  of 
vexation  and  disquiet. 

All  that  were  zealously  addicted  to  that  which  they  called 
the  old  religion  did  conclude,  that  whatever  firmness  the  king 
expressed  to  it  now,  was  either  pretended  out  of  policy,  for 
avoiding  the  inconveniences  which  the  fears  of  a  change  might 
produce ;  or,  though  he  really  intended  to  perform  what 
he  professed,  yet  the  interests  in  which  he  must  embark  with 
the  princes  of  Germany,  against  the  pope  and  the  emperor, 


book  m.]    HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  (1.535.)  291 

together  with  the  power  that  the  queen  had  over  him,  and  the 
credit  Cranraer  and  Cromwell  had  with  him,  would  prevail  on 
him  to  change  some  things  in  religion.  And  they  looked  on 
these  things  as  so  complicated  together,  that  the  change  of  any 
one  must  needs  make  way  for  change  in  more ;  since  that 
struck  at  the  authority  of  the  church,  and  left  people  at  liberty 
to  dispute  the  articles  of  faith.  This  they  thought  was  a  gate 
180  opened  to  heresy  ;  and  therefore  they  were  every  where  meet- 
ing together,  and  consulting  what  should  be  done  for  suppress- 
ing heresy,  and  preserving  the  catholic  faith. 

That  zeal  was  much  inflamed  by  the  monks  and  friars,  who  By  the 
clearly  saw  the  acts  of  parliament  were  so  levelled  at  their  the  monks 
exemptions  and  immunities,  that  they  were  now  like  to  be  aml  friars- 
at  the  king's  mercy.  They  were  no  more  to  plead  their  bulls, 
or  claim  any  privileges,  further  than  it  pleased  the  king  to 
allow  them.  No  new  saints  from  Rome  could  draw  more 
riches  or  honour  to  their  orders.  Privileges  and  indulgences 
were  out  of  doors ;  so  that  the  arts  of  drawing  in  the  people, 
to  enrich  their  churches  and  houses,  were  at  an  end.  And 
they  had  also  secret  intimations,  that  the  king  and  the 
courtiers  had  an  eye  on  their  lands  ;  and  they  gave  them- 
selves for  lost,  if  they  could  not  so  embroil  the  king^s  affairs, 
that  he  should  not  adventure  on  so  invidious  a  thing :  there- 
fore,  both  in  confessions  »nd  conferences,  they  infused  into  the 
people  a  dislike  of  the  king's  proceedings ;  which  though  for 
some  time  it  did  not  break  out  into  an  open  rebellion,  yet  the 
humour  still  fermented,  and  people  only  waited  for  an  op- 
portunity :  so  that  if  the  emperor  had  not  been  otherwise 
distracted,  he  might  have  made  war  upon  the  king  with  great 
advantages  ;  for  many  of  his  discontented  subjects  would  have 
joined  with  the  enemy.  But  the  king  did  so  dextrously  manage 
his  leagues  with  the  French  king,  and  the  princes  of  the 
empire,  that  the  emperor  could  never  make  any  impressions  on 
his  dominions. 

But  those  factious  spirits,  seeing  nothing  was  to  be  expected  Which  pre- 
from  any  foreign  power,   could  not  contain  themselves,    but  yu^\o  *° 
broke  out  into  open  rebellion.     And  this  provoked  the  king  to  gT?at  seve- 
great  severities :    his  spirit  was  so  fretted  by  the  tricks  the 
court  of  Rome  had  put  on  him,  and  by  the  ingratitude  and 
seditious  practices  of  Reginald  Pole,  that  he  thereby  lost  much 

u2 


292  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part.  i. 

of  his  former  temper  and  patience  ;  and  was  too  ready,  upon 
slight  grounds,  to  bring  his  subjects  to  the  bar.  Where  though 
the  matter  was  always  so  ordered,  that  according  to  law  they 
were  indicted  and  judged  ;  yet  the  severity  of  the  law  border- 
ing sometimes  on  rigour  and  cruelty,  he  came  to  be  called 
a  cruel  tyrant.  Nor  did  his  severity  lie  only  on  one  side  :  but, 
being  addicted  to  some  tenets  of  the  old  religion,  and  impatient 
of  contradiction ;  or  perhaps  blown  up,  either  with  the  vanity 
of  his  new  title  of  head  of  the  church,  or  with  the  praises  which 
flatterers  bestowed  on  him ;  he  thought  all  persons  were  bound 
to  regulate  their  belief  by  his  dictates,  which  made  him  prose- 
cute protestants,  as  well  as  proceed  against  papists.  Yet 
it  does  not  appear  that  cruelty  was  natural  to  him  ;  for  in 
twenty -five  years'  reign,  none  had  suffered  for  any  crime  against 
the  state,  but  Pole  earl  of  Suffolk,  and  Stafford  duke  of 
Buckingham.  The  former  he  prosecuted  in  obedience  to  his 
father's  last  commands  at  his  death.  His  severity  to  the  other 
was  imputed  to  the  cardinal's  malice.  The  proceedings  were 
also  legal.  And  the  duke  of  Buckingham  had,  by  the  knavery 
of  a  priest,  to  whom  he  gave  great  credit,  been  made  believe 
he  had  a  right  to  the  crown  ;  and  practices  of  that  nature 
touch  princes  so  nearly,  that  no  wonder  the  law  was  executed 
in  such  a  case.  This  shews  that  the  king  was  not  very  181 
jealous,  nor  desirous  of  the  blood  of  his  subjects.  But  though 
he  always  proceeded  upon  law,  yet,  in  the  last  ten  years  of  his 
life,  many  instances  of  severity  occurred,  for  which  he  is  rather 
to  be  pitied,  than  either  imitated  or  sharply  censured. 

The  former  book  was  full  of  intrigues  and  foreign  transac- 
tions ;  the  greatest  part  of  it  being  an  account  of  a  tedious 
negotiation  with  the  subtlest  and  most  refined  court  in  Christ- 
endom, in  all  the  arts  of  human  policy.  But  iioav  my  work  is 
confined  to  this  nation ;  and,  except  in  short  touches  by  the 
way,  I  shall  meddle  no  further  with  the  mysteries  of  state ; 
but  shall  give  as  clear  an  account  of  those  things  that  relate  to 
religion  and  reformation,  as  I  could  possibly  recover.  The 
suppression  of  monasteries,  the  advance  and  declension  of 
reformation,  and  the  proceedings  against  those  who  adhered 
to  the  interests  of  the  court  of  Rome,  must  be  the  chief 
subjects  of  this  book.  The  two  former  shall  be  opened  in  the 
series  of  time  as  thev  were  transacted :  but  the  last  shall  be 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  293 

left  to  the  end  of  the  book,  that  it  may  be  presented  in  one 
full  view. 

After  the  parliament  had  ended  their  business,  the  bishops  The 
did  all  renew  their  allegiance  to  the  king,  and  swore  also  to      10p+, 

o  »'  swear  the 

maintain  his  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  matters  ;  acknowledge  king's  su- 
ing that  he  was  the  supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England,  Plemacy- 
though  there  was  yet  no  law  for  the  requiring  of  any  such 
oath.  The  first  act  of  the  king's  supremacy  was  his  naming 
Cromwell  vicar-general,  and  general-visitor  of  all  the  monas- 
teries, and  other  privileged  places.  This  is  commonly  con- 
founded with  his  following  dignity  of  lord  vicegerent  in  eccle- 
siastical matters ;  but  they  were  two  different  places,  and  held  J 
by  different  commissions.  By  the  one  he  had  no  authority 
over  the  bishops,  nor  had  he  any  precedence  ;  but  the  other, 
as  it  gave  him  the  precedence  next  the  royal  family,  so  it 
clothed  him  with  a  complete  delegation  of  the  king's  whole 
power  in  ecclesiastical  affairs.  For  two  years  he  was  only 
vicar-general :  but  the  tenor  of  his  commissions,  and  the  nature 
of  the  power  devolved  on  him  by  them,  cannot  be  fully  known  : 
for  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  are  in  the  rolls,  though  there 
can  be  no  doubt  made,  but  commissions  of  such  importance 
were  enrolled ;  therefore  the  loss  of  them  can  only  be  charged 
on  that  search  and  rasure  of  records  made  by  Bonner,  upon 
the  commission  granted  to  him  by  queen  Mary,  of  which  I 
have  spoken  in  the  preface  of  this  work.  In  the  prerogative 
office  there  is  a  subaltern  commission  granted  to  doctor  (after-  1  //j 
wards  secretary)  Petre,  on  the  thirteenth  of  January,  in  the  \<536> 
twenty-seventh  year  of  the  king's  reign  ;  by  which  it  appears, 
that  Cromwell's  commission  was  at  first  conceived  in  very 
general  words ;  for  he  is  called,  the  king's  vicegerent  in  eccle-  1 
siastical  causes,  his  vicar-general,  and  official-principal.  But 
because  he  could  not  himself  attend  upon  all  these  affairs, 
therefore  doctor  Petre  is  deputed  under  him,  for  receiving  the 
probates  of  wills  :  from  thence  likewise  it  appears,  that  all 
wills,  where  the  estate  was  .€200  or  above,  were  no  more  to  be 
tried  or  proved  in  the  bishops'  courts,  but  in  the  vicar-general's 
court.  Yet,  though  he  was  called  vicegerent  in  that  com- 
mission, he  was  spoken  of,  and  writ  to,  by  the  name  of  vicar- 
182  general ;   but  after  the  second  commission,  seen  and  mentioned 


294  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

[Herbert,    by  the  lord  Herbert,  in  July  1536,  he  was  always  designed 
p'  4  *'*       lord  vicegerent. 

The  next  thing,  that  was  every  where  laboured  with  great 
industry,  was,  to  engage  all  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  chiefly  the 
regulars,  to  own  the  king's  supremacy  ;  to  which  they  generally 
Antiquit.  submitted.  In  Oxford  the  question  being  put,  Whether  the 
px°fg  1  *  P°Pe  had  any  other  jurisdiction  in  England  than  any  other 
The  origi-  foreign  bishop  ?  it  was  referred  to  thirty  doctors  and  bachelors, 
in  Cott.  wh°  were  empowered  to  set  the  university-seal  to  their  conclu- 
llljr*    „ .    sion.     They  all  agreed  in  the  negative ;  and  the  whole  uni- 

Cleop.E.iv.  f  •       t       ,  •  i 

fol.  15.        versity,  being  examined  about  it  man  by  man,  assented  to 
their  determination.     All  the  difficulty  that  I  find  made  was 
The  Fran-   at  Richmond,  by  the  Franciscan  friars,  where  the  bishop  of 
friars  Coventry  and  Lichfield,  (Rowland  Lee,)  and  Thomas  Bedyll, 

refuse  it.     tendered  some  conclusions  to  them  :   among  which  this  was 

[Cotton  '  .... 

MSS.  one,  That  the  pojye  of  Rome  has  no  greater  jurisdiction  in 
fofXl  V  this  kingdom  of  England,  by  the  law  of  God,  than  any  other 
foreign  bishop.  This,  they  told  them,  was  already  subscribed 
by  the  two  archbishops,  the  bishops  of  London,  Winchester, 
Durham,  Bath,  and  all  the  other  prelates  and  heads  of  houses, 
and  all  the  famous  clerks  of  the  realm.  And  therefore  they 
desired  that  the  friars  would  refer  the  matter  to  the  four 
seniors  of  the  house,  and  acquiesce  in  what  they  should  do. 
But  the  friars  said,  it  concerned  their  consciences  ;  and  there- 
fore they  would  not  submit  it  to  a  small  part  of  their  house  : 
they  added,  that  they  had  sworn  to  follow  the  rule  of  St. 
Francis,  and  in  that  they  would  live  and  die ;  and  cited  a 
chapter  of  their  rule,  "  That  their  order  should  have  a  cardinal 
"  for  their  protector,  by  whose  directions  they  might  be 
"  governed  in  their  obedience  to  the  holy  see."  But  to  this 
the  bishop  answered,  That  St.  Francis  lived  in  Italy,  where  the 
monks  and  other  regulars,  that  had  exemptions,  were  subject 
to  the  pope,  as  they  were  in  England  to  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  And  for  the  chapter  which  they  cited,  it  was 
shewed  them,  that  it  was  not  written  by  St.  Francis,  but  made 
since  his  time  ;  and  though  it  were  truly  a  part  of  his  rule,  it 
was  told  them,  that  no  particular  rule  ought  to  be  preferred  to 
the  laws  of  the  land,  to  which  all  subjects  were  bound  to  give 
obedience,  and  could  not  be  excused  from  it,  by  any  voluntary 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  295 

obligation  under  which  they  brought  themselves.  Yet  all  this 
could  not  prevail  on  them  ;  but  they  said  to  the  bishop,  they 
had  professed  St.  Francis'  rule,  and  would  still  continue  in  the 
observance  of  it. 

But  though  I  do  not  find  such  resistance  made  elsewhere,  A  general 

.  „  „     ,  visitation 

yet  it  appears  that  some  secret  practices  ot  many  ot  those  0f  mo. 
orders  against  the  state  were  discovered :   therefore  it  was  nastenes  is 

°  i         /•      1  •        designed. 

resolved,  that  some  effectual  means  must  be  taken  for  lessening 
.  their  credit  and  authority  with  the  people  ;  and  so  a  general  Orig.  Cott. 
visitation  of  all  monasteries  and  other  religious  houses  was  w'  -, 
resolved  on.  This  was  chiefly  advised  by  doctor  Layton,  who  E.  iv. 
had  been  in  the  cardinal's  service  with  Cromwell,  and  was  then  p 
taken  notice  of  by  him  as  a  dextrous  and  diligent  man ;  and 
therefore  was  now  made  use  of  on  this  occasion.  He  by  a 
letter  to  Cromwell  advertised  him,  that  upon  a  long  conference 
with  the  dean  of  the  arches,  he  found  the  dean  was  of  opinion, 
that  it  was  not  fit  to  make  any  visitation  in  the  king's  name 
183  yet  for  two  or  three  years,  till  his  supremacy  were  better 
received  :  and  that  he  apprehended  a  severe  visitation  so  early 
would  make  the  clergy  more  averse  to  the  king's  power. 
But  Layton,  on  the  other  hand,  thought  nothing  would  so 
much  recommend  the  supremacy,  as  to  see  such  good  effects  of 
it,  as  might  follow  upon  a  strict  and  exact  visitation.  And  the 
abuses  of  religious  persons  were  now  so  great  and  visible,  even 
to  the  laity,  that  the  correcting  and  reforming  these  would  be 
a  very  popular  thing.  He  writ  further,  that  there  had  been 
no  visitation  in  the  northern  parts  since  the  cardinal  ordered 
it ;  therefore  he  advised  one,  and  desired  to  be  employed  in 
Yorkshire.  And  by  another  letter,  dated  the  fourth  of  June,  [Ibid.  fol. 
he  wrote  to  Cromwell,  desiring  that  doctor  Lee  and  he  might  lo'* 
be  employed  in  visiting  all  the  monasteries,  from  the  diocese  of 
Lincoln  northwards :  which  they  could  manage  better  than 
any  body  else,  having  great  kindred,  and  a  large  acquaintance 
in  those  parts  :  so  that  they  would  be  able  to  discover  all  the 
disorders  or  seditious  practices  in  these  houses.  He  complained 
that  former  visitations  had  been  slight  and  insignificant,  and 
promised  great  faithfulness  and  diligence  both  from  himself 
and  doctor  Lee. 

The  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  now  making  his  metro-  Cranmer 
political  visitation,  having  obtained  the  king's  license  for  it ;  metropoli- 


296  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

tical  visita-  which  says,  that  he  having  desired,  that,  according  to  the 

tlon"  custom,  aDd  the  prerogative  of  his  nietropolitical  see,  he  might 

make  his  visitation,  the  king  granted  him  license  to  do  it,  and 

Rot.  Pat.    required  all  to  assist  and  obey  him  :  dated  the  twenty-eighth 

part.  rT™  of  April.     Things  were  not  yet  ripe  for  doing  great  matters  ; 

so  that  which  he  now  looked  to  was,  to  see  that  all  should 

submit  to  the  king's  supremacy,  and  renounce  any  dependence 

on  the  pope,  whose  name  was  to  be  struck  out  of  all  the  public 

Regist.       offices  of  the  church.  This  was  begun  in  May  1535.    Stokesley 

stokes.       bishop  of  London  submitted  not  to  this  visitation,  till  he  had 

entered  three  protestations  for  keeping  up  of  privileges. 
The  king's       In  October  began  the  great  visitation  of  monasteries,  which 
beg«n.10n     was  committed  to  several  commissioners.     Layton,  Lee,  and 
London,  were  most  employed.     But  many  others  were  also 
empowered  to  visit.    For  I  find  letters  from  Robert  Southwell, 
Ellis  Price,  John  Ap-rice,   Richard   Southwell,   John  Gage, 
Richard  Bellasis,  Walter  Hendle,  and  several  others,  to  Crom- 
well, giving  him  an  account  of  the  progress  they  made  in  their 
several   provinces.     Their  commissions,  if  they  were  passed 
under  the  great  seal,  and  enrolled,  have  been  taken  out  of  the 
rolls ;  for  there  are  none  of  them  to  be  found  there.     Yet 
I  incline  to  think,  they  were  not  under  the  great  seal.     For  I 
In  MSS.     have  seen  an  original  commission  for  the  visitation,  that  was 
Pierpoint.   noxt  year>  which  was  only  under  the  king's  hand  and  signet. 
From  which  it  may  be  inferred,  that  the  commissions  this  year 
were  of  the  same  nature  :  yet  whether  such  commissions  could 
authorize  them  to  grant  dispensations,  and  discharge  men  out 
of  the  houses  they  were  in,  I  am  not  skilled  enough  in  law  to 
determine.     And  by  their  letters  to  Cromwell  I  find,  they  did 
assume  authority  for  these  things.    So  what  their  power  was,  I 
am  not  able  to  discover.     But,  besides  their  powers  and  com- 
missions, they  got  instructions  to  direct  them  in  their  visitations, 
and  injunctions  to  be  left  in  every  house;  of  which,  though  I 
Cott.  libr.    could    not    recover    the    originals,   yet   copies   of  very   good  184 
£  op'rr  ,    authority  I  have  seen,  which  the  reader  will  find  in  the  Collec- 

E.  iv.  [fol.  « 

13.]  tion'at  the  end  of  this  book.     The  instructions  contain  eighty- 

six  articles.     The  substance  of  them  was  to  try, 
[nstrac-  "  Whether  divine  service  was  kept  up,  day  and  night,  in  the 

thTvisita-   "  right  hours  ?    And  how  many  were  commonly  present,  and 
tion.  «  who  were  frequently  absent? 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  297 

"  Whether  the  full  number,  according  to  the  foundation,  See  Collect. 

XT 

"  was  in  every  house  ?  Who  were  the  founders  ?  What  addi- 
"  tions  have  been  made  since  the  foundation  ?  And  what  were 
"  their  revenues  ?  Whether  it  was  ever  changed  from  one 
"  order  to  another  ?    By  whom  ?    And  for  what  cause  ? 

"  What  mortmains  they  had  ?  And  whether  their  founders 
"  were  sufficiently  authorized  to  make  such  donations  ? 

"  Upon  what  suggestions,  and  for  what  causes,  they  were 
"  exempted  from  their  diocesans  ? 

"  Their  local  statutes  were  also  to  be  seen  and  examined. 

"  The  election  of  their  head  was  to  be  inquired  into.  The 
"  rule  of  every  house  was  to  be  considered.  How  many  pro- 
ft  fessed  ?  And  how  many  novices  were  in  it  ?  And  at  what 
"  time  the  novices  professed  ? 

"  Whether  they  knew  their  rule,  and  observed  it  ?  Chiefly 
"  the  three  vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience  ?  Whether 
"  any  of  them  kept  any  money  without  the  master's  know- 
"  ledge  ?  Whether  they  kept  company  with  women,  within  or 
"  without  the  monastery  ?  Or  if  there  were  any  back-doors,  by 
"  which  women  came  within  the  precinct  ?  Whether  they  had 
"  any  boys  lying  by  them  ? 

"  Whether  they  observed  the  rules  of  silence,  fasting,  ab- 
'*  stinence,  and  hair-shirts  ?  Or  by  what  warrant  they  were 
"  dispensed  with  in  any  of  these  ? 

"  Whether  they  did  eat,  sleep,  wear  their  habit,  and  stay 
"  within  the  monastery,  according  to  their  rules  ? 

"  Whether  the  master  was  too  cruel,  or  too  remiss  ?  And 
"  whether  he  used  the  brethren  without  partiality  or  malice  ? 

"  Whether  any  of  the  brethren  were  incorrigible  ? 

"  Whether  the  master  made  his  accounts  faithfully  once 
"  a  year  ? 

"  Whether  all  the  other  officers  made  their  accounts  truly  ? 
"  And  whether  the  whole  revenues  of  the  house  were  employed 
"  according  to  the  intention  of  the  founders  ? 

"  Whether  the  fabric  was  kept  up,  and  the  plate  and  furni- 
"  turc  were  carefully  preserved  ? 

"  Whether  the  convent-seal,  and  the  writings  of  the  house, 
"  were  well  kept?  and  whether  leases  were  made  by  the 
"  master  to  his  kindred  and  friends,  to  the  damage  of  the 
"  house  1  Whether  hospitality  was  kept?  And  whether,  at  the 


298  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  receiving  of  novices,  any  money  or  reward  was  demanded 
"  or  promised  ?    What  care  was  taken  to  instruct  the  novices  ? 

"  Whether  any  had  entered  into  the  house,  in  hope  to  be 
"  once  the  master  of  it  ? 

"  Whether,  in  giving  presentations  to  livings,  the  master 
"  had  reserved  a  pension  out  of  them  ?  Or  what  sort  of  bargains 
"  he  made  concerning  them  ? 

"  An  account  was  to  be  taken  of  all  the  parsonages  and  185 
"  vicarages  belonging  to  every  house,  and  how  these  benefices 
"  were  disposed  of,  and  how  the  cure  was  served." 

All  these  things  were  to  be  inquired  after  in  the  houses 
of  monks  or  friars.  And  in  the  visitation  of  nunneries,  they 
were  to  search, 

"  Whether  the  house  had  a  good  enclosure  ;  and  if  the  doors 
"  and  windows  were  kept  shut,  so  that  no  man  could  enter  at 
"  inconvenient  hours  ? 

"  Whether  any  men  conversed  with  the  sisters  alone,  with- 
"  out  the  abbess'  leave  ? 

"  Whether  any  sister  was  forced  to  profess,  either  by  her 
"  kindred,  or  by  the  abbess  ? 

"  Whether  they  wont  out  of  their  precinct  without  leave  ? 
"  And  whether  they  wore  their  habit  then  ? 

"  What  employment  they  had  out  of  the  times  of  divine 
"  service?  What  familiarity  they  had  with  religious  men? 
"  Whether  they  wrote  love-letters?  Or  sent  and  received 
"  tokens  or  presents  ? 

"  Whether  the  confessor  was  a  discreet  and  learned  man, 
"  and  of  good  reputation  ?  And  how  oft  a  year  the  sisters  did 
"  confess  and  communicate?" 

They  were  also  to  visit  all  collegiate  churches,  hospitals,  and 

cathedrals ;   and  the  order  of  the  knights  of  Jerusalem.     But, 

if  this  copy  be  complete,  they  were  only  to  view  their  writings 

and  papers,  to  see  what  could  be  gathered  out  of  them  about 

the  reformation  of  monastical  orders.     And  as  they  were  to 

visit  according  to  these  instructions,  so  they  were  to  give  some 

injunctions  in  the  king's  name. 

Injunc-  "  That  they  should  endeavour,  all  that  in  them  lay,  that  the 

tionsforall  <<  act  of  the  king's  succession  should  be  observed;"    (where  it 

houses.       is  said,  that  tltey  had  under  their  hands  and  seals  confirmed 

Sec  Collect,  it.     This  shews  that  all  the  religious  houses  of  England  had 

Numb.  2. 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  299 

acknowledged  it :)  "  and  they  should  teach  the  people,  that 
"  the  king's  power  was  supreme  on  earth,  under  God,  and  that 
"  the  bishop  of  Rome's  power  was  usurped  by  craft  and  policy, 
"  and  by  his  ill  canons  and  decretals,  which  had  been  long 
"  tolerated  by  the  prince,  but  was  now  justly  taken  away. 

"  The,  abbot  and  brethren  were  declared  to  be.  absolved  from 
"  any  oath  they  had  sworn  to  the  pope,  or  to  any  foreign 
"  potentate  ;  and  the  statutes  of  any  order,  that  did  bind  them 
"  to  a  foreign  subjection,  were  abrogated,  and  ordered  to  be 
"  razed  out  of  their  books. 

"  That  no  monk  should  go  out  of  the  precinct,  nor  any 
"  Avoman  enter  within  it,  without  leave  from  the  king  or  the 
"  visitor  ;  and  that  there  should  be  no  entry  to  it,  but  one. 

"  Some  rules  were  given  about  their  meals ;  and  a  chapter 
"  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament  was  ordered  to  be  read  at  every 
"  one.  The  abbot's  table  was  to  be  served  with  common 
"  meats,  and  not  with  delicate  and  strange  dishes ;  and  either 
"  he,  or  one  of  the  seniors,  were  to  be  always  there  to  enter- 
"  tain  strangers. 

"  Some  other  rules  follow  about  the  distribution  of  their 
"  alms,  their  accommodation  in  health  and  sickness.  One  or 
"  two  of  every  house  was  to  be  kept  at  the  university,  that, 
"  when  they  were  well  instructed,  they  might  come  and  teach 
"  others :  and  every  day  there  was  to  be  a  lecture  of  divinity 
"  for  a  whole  hour  :  the  brethren  must  all  be  well  employed. 
18(J  "  The  abbot  or  head  was  every  day  to  explain  some  part  of 
'•'  the  rule,  and  apply  it  according  to  Christ's  law  ;  and  to  shew 
"  them,  that  their  ceremonies  were  but  elements,  introductory 
"  to  true  Christianity ;  and  that  religion  consisted  not  in 
"  habits,  or  in  such  like  rites,  but  in  cleanness  of  heart,  pure- 
"  ness  of  living,  unfeigned  faith,  brotherly  charity,  and  true 
"  honouring  of  God  in  spirit  and  truth  :  that  therefore  they 
"  must  not  rest  in  their  ceremonies,  but  ascend  by  them  to  true 
"  religion. 

"  Other  rules  are  added  about  the  revenues  of  the  house, 
"  and  against  wastes ;  and  that  none  be  entered  into  their 
"  house  nor  admitted,  under  twenty-four  years  of  age. 

"  Every  priest  in  the  house  was  to  say  mass  daily ;  and  in  it 
"  to  pray  for  the  king  and  queen. 

"  If  any  break  any  of  these  injunctions,  he  was  to  be  de- 


300  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  nounced   to  the  king,  or  his  visitor-general.     The  visitor 

"  had  also  authority  to  punish  any  whom  he  should  find  guilty 

'•'  of  any  crime,  and  to  bring  the  visitor-general  such  of  their 

"  books  and  writings  as  he  thought  fit." 

An  account      But,  before  I  give  an  account  of  this  visitation,  I  presume  it 

gre.ss  of  the  w^  n°t  De  ungrateful  to  the  reader  to  offer  him  some  short 

monastical  view  0f  the  rise  ant|  progress  of  monastic  orders  in  England, 

England,     and  of  the  slate  they  were  in  at  this  time.     What  the  ancient 

British  monks  were,  or  by  what  rule  they  were  governed  ; 

whether  it  was  from  the  eastern  churches  that  this  constitution 

was  brought  into  Britain,  and  was  either  suited  to  the  rule  of 

St.  Anthony,  St.  Pachom,  or  St.  Basil ;  or  whether  they  had  it 

[Sulpit.       from  France    where,    Sulpitius  tells   us,    St.  Martin   set   up 

oev.  (Jpp.  .  . 

p.  225.  ed.  monasteries  ;  must  be  left  to  conjecture.     But,  from  the  little 

1043-1  that  remains  of  them,  we  find  they  were  very  numerous,  and 

were  obedient  to  the  bishop  of  Caerleon,  as  all  the  monks  of 

the  primitive  times  were  to  their  bishops,  according  to  the 

canons  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon. 

But,  upon  the  confusions  which  the  Gothic  wars  brought 

into  Italy,  Benedict  and  others  set  up  religious  houses :  and 

more  artificial  rules  and  methods  were  found  out  for  their 

government.     Not  long  after  that,  Austin  the  monk  came  into 

England  ;  and  having  baptized  Ethelbert,  he  persuaded  him  to 

The  ex-      found  a  monastery  at   Canterbury,   which  the  king,   by  his 

of  mo-  '*     charter,  exempted  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  archbishop  and 

nasteris.      his  successors.     This  was  not  only  done  by  Austin's  consent, 

See  Mo- 

nasticon      but  he,  by  another  writing,  confirms  this  foundation ;    and  ex- 
[Anghca-     empted  both  the  monastery,  and  all  the  churches  belonging  to 

num,  vol.  1.         l  m  t  ....  no 

pp.  126,      it,  from  his  or  his  successors' jurisdictions ;  and  most  earnestly 
I2'J  conjures  his  successors  never  to  give  any  trouble  to  the  monks, 

who  were  only  to  be  subject  to  their  own  abbot.  And  this 
was  granted,  that  they  might  have  no  disturbance  in  the 
service  of  God.  (But  whether  this,  with  many  other  ancient 
foundations,  were  not  later  forgeries,  Avhich  I  vehemently 
[Ibid.  suspect,  I  leave  to  critics  to  discuss.)    The  next  exemption  that 

p-37  -J       j  gn(j  was  granted  in  the  year  680  to  the  abbey  of  Peter- 
borough, by  pope  Agatho,  and  was  signed  by  Theodore,  arch- 
[Ibid.  bishop  of  Canterbury,  called  the  pope's  legate.     (This  I  doubt 

m?i<i  pp.    was  f01*gcd  afterwards.)     In  the  year  725,  king  Ina's  charter 
25.  26J       to  the  abbey  of  Glastonbury  relates  to  their  ancient  charters, 


book  m.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1535.)  301 

and  exempts  them  from  the  bishop's  jurisdiction.  King  Offa  [Jhid.  vol. 
187 founded  and  exempted  the  monastery  of  St.  Albans,  in  the  rIb?d  *J 
year  793,  which  pope  Honorius  the  Third  confirmed,  anno  232, 233.] 
1218.  Kenulph,  king  of  Morcia,  founded  and  exempted  p  I'-, 
Abingdon,  in  the  year  821 .  Canute  founded  and  exempted  [ Ibid-  vo1- 
St.  Edmundsbury,  in  the  year  1020.  i3'7.] 

About  the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  the  Danes  began  to  Monas- 
make  their  descents  into   England,   and  made  every  where  ne^y e" 
great  depredations  ;    and,  finding  the   monks   had  possessed  wasted  and 
themselves  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  riches  of  the  nation,  they  Antiquit.' 
made  their  most  frequent  inroads  upon  these  places  where  Britannia, 
they  knew  the  richest  spoil  was  to  be  found.     And  they  did  so 
waste  and  ruin  these  houses,  that  they  were  generally  aban- 
doned by  the  monks  ;   who,  as  they  loved  the  ease  and  wealth 
they  had  enjoyed  formerly  in  their  houses,  so  had  no  mind  to 
expose  themselves   to  the    persecutions   of  those   heathenish 
invaders.     But  when  they  had  deserted  their  seats,  the  secular 
clergy  came  and  possessed  them  ;  so  that,  in  king  Edgar's 
time,  there  was  scarce  a  monk  in  all  England.     He  was  a  most  But  are 
dissolute  and  lewd  prince  ;   but,  being  persuaded  by  Dunstan,  u^bVkino- 
and  other  monks,  that  what  he  did  towards  the  restoring  of  Edgar, 
that  decayed  state  would  be  a  matter  of  great  merit,  became 
the  great  promoter  of  the  monastical  state  in  England  ;  for  he 
converted  most  of  the  chapters  into  monasteries :    and  by  his 
foundation  of  the  priory  of  Worcester,  it  appears,  he  had  then 
founded  no  fewer   than   forty-seven,    which    he   intended   to 
increase  to  fifty,  the  number  of  pardon.     Yet  in  his  founda- 
tions he  only  exempted  the  monasteries  from  all    exactions 
or  dues  which   the  bishops  claimed.     There  are  exemptions 
of  several  rates  and  sizes :  some  houses  were  only  exempted 
from  all  exactions  ;  others  from  all  jurisdiction  or  visitations : 
others  had  only  an  exemption  for  their  precinct;  others  for 
all  the  churches  that  belonged  to  them.     Edward  the  Con-  [Monasti- 
fessor   exempted   many   of   these   houses   which    Edgar   had  canum"  vol. 
founded,  as  Ramsey,  &c.     He  also  founded1  and  exempted  "■  PP-  557. 
Coventry  and  Westminster,  and  the  exemption  of  the  last  was  [ibid.  vol. 
likewise  confirmed  by  pope  Nicolas,  in  a  bull  to  king  Edward. 1U"  p,p"  T9°' 

1   Coventry  was  not  founded  by      Leofric.     Monast.    vol.  i.    p.   303.        »qI°  '^ 
Edward  the  Confessor,  but  by  count     Hist,  of  Warw.  p.  100.  [B.]  sqq.J 


302  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

William  the  Conqueror  founded  and  exempted  the  abbey  of 
[Ibid.  vol.    Battle  from  all  episcopal  jurisdiction. 

"•  P-  33-J  guj.  afj.er  ^}ia£  ume  j  Jq  not  find  that  our  kings  exempted 
abbeys  from  any  thing  but  episcopal  exactions ;  for  though 
formerly  kings  had  made  laws,  and  given  orders  about  eccle- 
siastical matters,  yet  now  the  claim  to  an  immunity  from  the 
civil  jurisdiction,  and  also  the  papal  authority,  were  grown  to 
that  height,  that  princes  were  to  meddle  no  more  with  sacred 
things.  And  henceforth  all  exemptions  were  granted  by  the 
popes,  who  claimed  a  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  church ;  and 
assumed  that  power  to  themselves,  with  many  other  usurpa- 
tions. 
Arts  used  All  the  ancient  foundations  were  subscribed  by  the  king,  the 
monks  for  queen,  and  prince,  with  many  bishops  and  abbots,  and  dukes 
enriching  an(j  earls  consenting.  The  abbeys,  being  exempted  from  all 
houses.  jurisdiction,  both  civil  and  spiritual,  and  from  all  impositions, 
and  having  generally  the  privilege  of  sanctuary  for  all  that 
fled  to  them,  were  at  ease,  and  accountable  to  none ;  so  they 
might  do  what  they  pleased.  They  found  also  means  to 
enrich  themselves,  first,  by  the  belief  of  purgatory :  for  they 
persuaded  all  people,  that-the  souls  departed  went  generally  188 
thither ;  few  were  so  holy  as  to  go  straight  to  heaven  ;  and 
few  so  bad  as  to  be  cast  to  hell.  Then  people  were  made 
believe,  that  the  saying  of  masses  for  their  souls  gave  them 
great  relief  in  their  torments,  and  did  at  length  deliver  them 
out  of  them.  Thi^  being  generally  received,  it  was  thought  by 
all  a  piece  of  piety  to  their  parents,  and  of  necessary  care  for 
themselves  and  their  families,  to  give  some  part  of  their 
estates  towards  the  enriching  of  these  houses,  for  having  a 
mass  said  every  day  for  the  souls  of  their  ancestors,  and  for 
their  own,  after  their  death.  And  this  did  so  spread,  that  if 
some  laws  had  not  restrained  their  profuseness,  the  greater 
part  of  all  the  estates  in  England  had  been  given  to  those 
houses.  But  the  statutes  of  mortmain  were  not  very  effectual 
restraints  ;  for  what  king  soever  had  refused  to  grant  a  mort- 
main, was  sure  to  have  an  uneasy  reign  ever  after. 

Yet  this  did  not  satisfy  the  monks  ;  but  they  fell  upon  other 
contrivances  to  get  the  best  of  all  men's  jewels,  plate,  and 
furniture.     For  they  persuaded  them,  that  the  protection  and 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  303 

intercession  of  saints  were  of  mighty  use  to  them;  so  that, 
whatsoever  respect  they  put  on  the  shrines  and  images,  but 
chiefly  on  the  relics  of  saints,  they  would  find  their  account 
in  it,  and  the  saints  would  take  it  kindly  at  their  hands,  and 
intercede  the  more  earnestly  for  them.  And  people,  who  saw 
courtiers  much  wrought  on  by  presents,  imagined  the  saints 
were  of  the  same  temper ;  only  with  this  difference,  that 
courtiers  love  to  have  presents  put  in  their  own  hands,  but  the 
saints  were  satisfied  if  they  were  given  to  others.  And  as  in 
the  courts  of  princes,  the  new  favourite  commonly  had  greatest 
credit,  so  every  new  saint  was  believed  to  have  a  greater  force 
in  his  addresses ;  and  therefore  everybody  was  to  run  to  their 
shrines,  and  make  great  presents  to  them.  This  being  infused 
into  the  credulous  multitude,  they  brought  the  richest  things 
they  had  to  the  places  where  the  bodies  or  relics  of  those  saints 
were  laid.  Some  images  were  also  believed  to  have  a  peculiar 
excellency  in  them  ;  and  pilgrimages  and  presents  to  these 
were  much  magnified.  But,  to  quicken  all  this,  the  monks 
found  the  means,  either  by  dreams  or  visions,  and  strange 
miraculous  stories,  to  feed  the  devotion  of  the  people.  Relics 
without  number  were  everywhere  discovered ;  and  most  won- 
derful relations  of  the  martyrdom,  and  other  miracles  of  the 
saints,  were  made  and  read  in  all  places  to  the  people  ;  and 
new  improvements  were  daily  made  in  a  trade,  that,  through 
the  craft  of  the  monks,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  people, 
brought  in  great  advantages.  And  though  there  was  enough 
got  to  enrich  them  all,  yet  there  was  strange  rivalling,  not 
only  among  the  several  orders,  but  the  houses  of  the  same 
order.  The  monks,  especially  of  Glastonbury,  St.  Alban's,  and 
St.  Edmundsbury,  vied  one  with  another  who  could  tell  the 
most  extravagant  stories  for  the  honour  of  their  house,  and  of 
the  relics  in  it. 

The  monks  in  these  houses  abounding  in  wealth,  and  living  They  be- 
at ease  and  in  idleness,  did  so  degenerate,  that,    from  the  came  §e" 

'  0      .  nerally 

twelfth  century  downward,  their  reputation  abated  much ;  and  corrupted. 
the  privileges  of  sanctuaries  were  a  general  grievance,  and  oft 
complained  of  in  parliaments  :  for  they  received  all  that  fled  to 
them,  which  put  a  great  stop  to  justice,  and  did  encourage  the 
189  most  criminal  offenders.  They  became  lewd  and  dissolute, 
and  so  impudent  in  it,  that  some  of  their  farms  were  let  for 


304  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

[Fuller, lib.  bringing   in   a  yearly  tribute  to  their   lusts;    nor  did  they 

31&T        keep  hospitality,  and  relievo  the  poor,  but  rather  encouraged 

vagabonds  and  beggars,  against  whom  laws  were  made,  both 

in  Edward  the  Third,  king  Henry  the  Seventh,  and  this  king's 

reign. 

^P.0?  ,  But,  from  the  twelfth  century,  the  orders  of  begging  friars 

which  the  f  „  ? 

begging      were  set  up  ;    and  they,  by  the  appearance  of  severity  and 

friars  grew  mortification,  gained  great  esteem.     At  first  they  would  have 

much  in  '00  J 

credit.  nothing,  no  real  estates,  but  the  ground  on  which  their  house 
stood.  But  afterwards  distinctions  were  found  for  satisfying 
their  consciences  in  larger  possessions.  They  were  not  so  idle 
and  lazy  as  the  monks ;  but  went  about  and  preached,  and 
heard  confessions,  and  carried  about  indulgences,  with  many 
other  pretty  little  things,  Agnus  Deis,  Rosaries,  and  Pebbles ; 
which  they  made  the  world  believe  had  great  virtue  in  them. 
And  they  had  the  esteem  of  the  people  wholly  engrossed  to 
themselves.  They  were  also  more  formidable  to  princes  than 
the  monks,  because  they  were  poorer,  and,  by  consequence, 
more  hardy  and  bold.  There  was  also  a  firmer  union  of  their 
whole  order,  they  having  a  general  at  Rome,  and  being  divided 
into  many  provinces,  subject  to  their  provincials.  They  had 
likewise  the  school-learning  wholly  in  their  hands,  and  were 
great  preachers,  so  that  many  things  concurred  to  raise  their 
esteem  with  the  people  very  high ;  yet  great  complaints  lay 
against  them,  for  they  went  more  abroad  than  the  monks  did, 
and  were  believed  guilty  of  corrupting  families.  The  scandals 
that  went  on  them,  upon  their  relaxing  the  primitive  strictness 
of  their  orders,  were  a  little  rectified  by  some  reformations  of 
these  orders.  But  that  lasted  not  long ;  for  they  became 
liable  to  much  censure,  and  many  visitations  had  been  made, 
but  to  little  purpose.  This  concurring  with  their  secret  prac- 
tices against  the  king,  both  in  the  matter  of  his  divorce  and 
supremacy,  made  him  more  willing  to  examine  the  truth  of 
these  reports ;  that,  if  they  were  found  guilty  of  such  scandals, 
they  might  lose  their  credit  with  the  people,  and  occasions  be 
ministered  to  the  king  to  justify  the  suppression  of  them. 
The  king's  There  were  also  two  other  motives,  that  inclined  the  king 
tives  for  to  this  counsel.  The  one  was,  that  he  apprehended  a  war 
dissolving  from  the  emperor,  who  was  then  the  only  prince  in  the  world 
houses.       that  had  any  considerable  force  at  sea ;    having  both  great 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  305 

fleets  in  the  Indies,  and  being  prince  of  the  Netherlands,  where 
the  greatest  trade  of  these  parts  was  driven2.  Therefore  the 
king  judged  it  necessary  to  fortify  his  ports ;  and,  seeing  the 
great  advantages  of  trade,  which  began  then  to  rise  much, 
was  resolved  to  encourage  it :  for  which  end  he  intended  to 
build  many  havens  and  harbours.  This  was  a  matter  of  great 
charge ;  and,  as  his  own  revenue  could  not  defray  it,  so  he 
had  no  mind  to  lay  heavy  taxes  on  his  subjects :  therefore  the 
suppression  of  monasteries  was  thought  the  easiest  way  of 
raising  money. 

He  also  intended  to  erect  many  more  bishoprics,  to  which 
Cranmer  advised  him  much ;  that  the  vastness  of  some  dioceses 
being  reduced  to  a  narrower  compass,  bishops  might  better 
discharge  their  duties,  and  oversee  their  flocks,  according  to 
the  scriptures  and  the  primitive  rules. 
190  But  Cranmer  did  on  another  reason  press  the  suppression  Cranmer's 
of  monasteries.  He  found  that  their  foundations,  and  whole  itesi£n  in 
state,  was  inconsistent  with  a  full  and  true  reformation.  For 
among  the  things  to  be  reformed  were  these  abuses,  which 
were  essential  to  their  constitution ;  (such  as,  the  belief  of 
purgatory,  of  redeeming  souls  by  masses,  the  worship  of  saints 
and  images,  and  pilgrimages,  and  the  like.)  And  therefore 
those  societies,  whose  interest  it  was  to  oppose  the  reformation, 
were  once  to  be  suppressed :  and  then  he  hoped,  upon  new 
endowments  and  foundations,  new  houses  should  have  been 
erected  at  every  cathedral,  to  be  nurseries  for  that  whole 
diocese ;  which  he  thought  would  be  more  suitable  to  the  pri- 
mitive use  of  monasteries,  and  more  profitable  to  the  church. 
This  was  his  scheme,  as  will  afterwards  appear ;  which  was  in 
some  measure  effected,  though  not  so  fully  as  he  projected,  for 
reasons  to  be  told  in  their  proper  place. 

There  had  been  a  bull  sent  from  Rome  for  dissolving  some  First  mon- 
monasteries,  and  erecting-  bishoprics  out  of  them,  as  was  related  asterJ. that 

7  °  l  '  was  dra- 

in the  former  book,  in  the  year  1532 ;J.     And  it  seems  it  was  solved. 

2  Your  lordship  has  heen  since  count :  '  Before  the  revolt  the  sub- 
better  acquainted  with  the  trade  of  jects  of  the  Low- Countries never 

the  Indies ;  which  was  then,  I  sup-  allowed  the  trade  of  the  Indies  but 

pose,    chiefly  divided   betwixt    the  in  the   Spanish  fleets    and    under 

Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  and  the  Spanish  covert,  &c.'  [B.] 
Netherlands  had  a  very  small  share.         3  [See  pp.  22  and  121,  and  Ry- 

Sir  W.  Temple  (p.  75)  gives  this  ac-  mer,  torn.  xiv.  pp.  23,  sqq.] 

BURNET,  PART  I.  X 


306  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

upon  that  authority,  that,  in  the  year  1533,  the  priory  of 
Christ  Church,  near  Aldgate  in  London,  was  dissolved,  and 
given  to  the  lord  chancellor,  sir  Thomas  Audley  ;  (not  to  make 
him  speak  shriller  for  his  master  in  the  house  of  commons,  as 
[Fuller,  vi.  Fuller  mistakes  it ;   for  he  had  been  lord  chancellor  a  year 
p'  3°  J      before  this  was  given  him.)     The  pope's  authority  not  being 
at  that  time  put  down,  nor  the  king's  supremacy  set  up,  I  con- 
jecture it  was  done  pursuant  to  the  bull  for  the  dissolution  of 
some  religious  houses ;  but  I  never  saw  the  dissolution,  and  so 
Act.  10.       can  only  guess  on  what  ground  it  was  made.     But  in  the  par- 
rel 25      hament  held  the  former  year,  in  which  the  king's  grant  of  that 
[Cap.  33.     house  to  the  lord  chancellor  was  confirmed,  it  is  said,  in  the 
vol.  iii.  p.    preamble,  "  that  the   prior  and  convent  had   resigned  that 
508  ]  a  house  to  the  king  the  twenty-fourth  of  February,  23  regni, 

1531'.   '      "  and  had  left  their  house;"    but  no  mention  is  made  upon 

Monasti-      w]mt  reason   tnev  fcft   Jfc_ 

con  Angli-  * 

canum,  vol.  But  now  I  come  to  consider  how  the  visitors  carried  on  their 
vi.  p.  1 50. j  visitations.  Many  severe  things  are  said  of  their  proceedings  ; 
The  pro-     nor  -g  •{.  a      wonder  that  men,  who  had  traded  so- long  in  lies 

ceedings  »  '  & 

of  the  as  the  monks  had  done,  should  load  those,  whom  they  esteemed 
the  instruments  of  their  ruin,  with  many  calumnies.  By  their 
Cott.  lib.  letters  to  Cromwell4  it  appears,  that  in  most  houses  they  found 
r^m  V 4' monstrous  disorders.  That  many  fell  down  on  their  knees, 
and  prayed  they  might  be  discharged,  since  they  had  been 
forced  to  make  vows  against  their  wills :  with  these  the  visitors 
dispensed,  and  set  them  at  liberty.  They  found  great  factions 
in  the  houses,  and  barbarous  cruelties  exercised  by  one  faction 
against  another,  as  either  of  them  prevailed.  In  many  places, 
when  they  gave  them  the  king's  injunctions,  many  cried  out 
that  the  severity  of  them  was  intolerable,  and  they  desired 
rather  to  be  suppressed  than  so  reformed.  They  were  all  ex- 
tremely addicted  to  idolatry  and  superstition.  In  some  they 
found  the  instruments,  and  other  tools,  for  multiplying  and 
coining. 

But  for  the  lewdness  of  the  confessors  of  nunneries  and  the 
great  corruption  of  that  state,  whole  houses  being  found  almost 
all  with  child ;  for  the  dissoluteness  of  abbots,  and  the  other 
monks  and  friars,  not  only  with  whores,  but  married  women ;  191 

4  [See  the  'Three  Chapters  of  of  Monasteries,' printed  by  the  Cam- 
Letters  relating  to  the  Suppression     den  Society,  1843.] 


book  iil]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  307 

and  for  their  unnatural  lusts,  and  other  brutal  practices ;  these 
are  not  fit  to  be  spoken  of,  much  less  enlarged  on,  in  a  work 
of  this  nature.  The  full  report  of  this  visitation  is  lost ;  yet  I 
have  seen  an  extract  of  a  part  of  it,  concerning  one  hundred 
and  forty-four  houses,  that  contains  abominations  in  it  equal 
to  any  that  were  in  Sodom. 

One   passage,  that  is  more  remarkable,   I  shall   only  set  Cott.  lib. 
down;   because  upon  it  followed  the  first  resignation  of  any  rfo^27'jv* 
religious  house,  that  I  could  ever  find.     Doctor  Layton  beset  Some 
the  abbot  of  Langdon's  house,  and  broke  open  his  door  of  a  ^^d  up 
sudden,  and  found  his  whore  with  him ;   and  in  the  abbot's  to  the 
coffer  there  was  an  habit  for  her,  for  she  went  for  a  young 
brother.     Whether  the  shame  of  this  discovery,  or  any  other 
consideration,  prevailed  with  him,  I  know  not ;   but,  on  the 
thirteenth  of  November,  he  and  ten  monks  signed  a  resigna- 
tion, which  hath  an  odd  kind  of  preamble,  to  be  found  in  the 
Collection.     "  It  says,  that  the  revenue  of  the  house  was  so  Collect. 
"  much  endamaged,  and  engaged  in  so  much  debt,  that  they,  Se"m  t'  3' 
"  considering  this,  and  what  remedies  might  be  found  for  it,  [Rymer, 
"  saw,  that  except  the  king,  of  whose  foundation  the  house  p.  555.] 
"  was,  did  speedily  relieve  them,  it  must  be  very  quickly 
"  ruined,  both  as  to  its  spiritual  and  temporal  concerns ;  there- 
"  fore  they  surrender  up  their  house  to  the  king."     They 
were  of  the  order  of  Premonstre,  and  their  house  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  honour  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  and  St.  Thomas 
Becket.     This  precedent  was  followed  by  the  like  surrender,  The  origi- 
with  the  same  preamble,  on  the  fifteenth  of  November,  by  the  nal.softhese 

i  '  '     «/  resigna- 

prior  of  Folkstone,  a  Benedictine ;  and  on  the  sixteenth  by  tions  are  in 
the  prior  of  Dover,  with  eight  monks.  These  were  all  of  them  mentalon- 
in  the  county  of  Kent.     But  neither  among;  the  original  sur-  office>  and 

.  .      enrolled. 

renders,  nor  in  the  clause-rolls,  are  there  any  other  deeds  in  R0t.  Claus. 
this  year  of  our  Lord.     There  are  indeed,  in  the  same  year  Part-  *■ 

-   1      ■■  .  .  .  .  n  regn.  27. 

of  the  king,  (which  runs  till  April  1536,)  four  other  surrenders,  [in.  n.  d.] 
with  the  same  preambles :  of  Morton  in  Yorkshire,  a  convent 
of  Augustinians,  signed  by  the  prior  and  five  monks,  the  ninth 
of  February :  of  Bilsington  in  Kent,  signed  by  the  prior  and 
two  monks,  the  twenty-first  of  February  ;  of  Tiltey  in  Essex,  [Feb.  28.] 
a  convent  of  Cistercians,  signed  by  the  prior  and  five  monks ; 
and  of  Hornby  in  Yorkshire,  a  convent  of  the  Premonstre, 
signed  by  the  prior  and  two  monks,  the  twenty-third  of  March.  [Feb.  23.} 

x  2 


308  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

These  were  all  the  surrenders  that  I  can  discover  to  have  been 
[Cap.  28.  made  before  the  act  of  parliament  for  suppressing  the  lesser 
vol.  iii.  p.  monasteries,  passed  in  the  next  session  that  was  assembled  in 
575-]  February5. 

1536.  But  before  that  the  afflicted  and  unfortunate  queen  Catha- 
of'quSlf1  rme  died  at  Kimbolton ;  she  had  been  much  disquieted,  because 
Catharine,  she  would  not  lay  down  her  title  of  queen.  Many  of  her  ser- 
vants were  put  from  her  on  that  account ;  but  she  would  ac- 
cept of  no  service  from  any  that  did  not  use  her  as  a  queen, 
and  call  her  so.  The  king  sent  oft  to  her  to  persuade  her  to 
more  compliance :  but  she  stood  her  ground,  and  said,  since 
the  pope  had  judged  her  marriage  good,  she  would  lose  her 
Originals,  life  before  she  did  any  thing  in  prejudice  of  it.  She  became 
otho.  c.  x.  more  cheerful  than  she  had  wont  to  be ;  and  the  country  people 
[fol.177.]  came  much  to  her,  whom  she  received,  and  used  very  obligingly. 
The  king  had  a  mind  she  should  go  to  Fotheringhay-castle  : 
but  when  it  was  proposed  to  her,  she  plainly  said,  she  would  192 
never  go  thither,  unless  she  were  carried  as  a  prisoner  bound 
with  ropes.  She  desired  leave  to  come  nearer  London ;  but 
that  was  not  granted.  She  had  the  jointure  that  was  assigned 
her  as  princess  dowager,  and  was  treated  with  the  respect  due 
to  that  dignity ;  but  all  the  women  about  her  still  called  her 
queen.  I  do  not  find  she  had  any  thoughts  of  going  out  of 
England ;  though  her  life  in  it  was  but  melancholy.  Yet  her 
care  to  support  her  daughter's  title  made  her  bear  all  the  dis- 
graces she  lay  under.  The  officious  and  practising  clergy, 
that  were  for  the  court  of  Rome,  looked  on  her  as  the  head  of 
their  party,  and  asserted  her  interest  much.  Yet  she  was  so 
watched,  that  she  could  not  hold  any  great  correspondence 
with  them ;  though  in  the  matter  of  the  Maid  of  Kent  she  had 
some  meddling. 

When  she  sickened,  she  made  her  will :  and  appointed  her 
body  to  be  buried  in  a  convent  of  Observant  friars,  (who  had 
done  and  suffered  most  for  her,)  and  ordered  five  hundred 
masses  to  be  said  for  her  soul ;  and  that  one  should  go  a  pil- 
grimage to  our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  and  give  two  hundred6 
nobles  by  the  way  to  the  poor.  Some  other  small  legacies  she 
left  to  her  servants.     When  the  king  heard  she  was  sick,  he 

5  [See  part  iii.  p.  132.] 

fi  For  two  hundred  nobles  read  twenty  nobles.  [S.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  309 

sent  a  kind  message  to  her ;    and  the  emperor's  ambassador 
went  to  see  her,  and  to  cheer  her  up ;  but  when  she  found  her 
sickness  like  to  prove  mortal,  she  made  one  about  her  write  a 
letter  in  her  name  to  the  king.     In  the  title  she  called  him,  [Herbert, 
"  Her  dear"?  lord,  king,  and  husband.    She  advised  him  to  look 
"  to  the  health  of  his  soul.     She  forgave  him  all  the  troubles 
"  he  had  cast  her  into.      She  recommended  their  daughter 
"  Mary  to  him,  and  desired  he  would  be  a  loving  father  to 
"  her.     She  also  desired,  that  he  would  provide  matches  for 
"  her  maids,  who  were  but  three  ;  and  that  he  would  give  her 
"  servants  one  year's  wages  more  than  was  due  to  them.     And 
"  concluded  lastly,  I  make  this  vow,  That  mine  eyes  desire 
"  you  above  all  things."    By  another  letter,  she  recommended 
her  daughter  to  the  emperor's  care.    On  the  eighth  of  January  [ibid.] 
she  died,  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  her  age,  thirty-three  years 
after  she   came   to  England.     She  was  a  devout  and  pious 
princess,  and  led  a  severe  and  mortified  life.     In  her  greatness 
she  wrought  much  with  her  own  hands,  and  kept  her  women 
well  employed  about  her ;  as  appeared  when  the  two  legates 
came  once  to  speak  with  her.     She  came  out  to  them  with  a  [Caven- 
skein  of  silk  about  her  neck,  and  told  them,  she  had  been  ^y^g 
within  at  work  with  her  women.     She  was  most  passionately  p.  432.] 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  court  of  Rome,  they  being  so 
interwoven  with  her  own :   and,  in  a  word,  she  is  represented 
as  a  most  wonderful  good  woman ;  only  I  find,  on  many  occa- 
sions, that  the  king  complained  much  of  her  uneasiness  and 
peevishness.     But  whether  the  fault  was  in  her  humour,  or  in 
the  provocations  she  met  with,  the  reader  may  conjecture. 
The  king  received  the  news  of  her  death  with  some  regret :  but 
he  would  not  give  leave  to  bury  her,  as  she  had  ordered ;  but 
made  her  body  be  laid  in  the  abbey  church  of  Peterborough,  [Herbert. 
which  he  afterwards  converted  to  an  episcopal  cathedral.     But  Holin- 
queen  Anne  did  not  carry  her  death  so  decently ;  for  she  ex-  shedl 
pressed  too  much  joy  at  it,  both  in  her  carriage  and  dress. 
193      On  the  fourth  of  February  the  parliament  sat,  upon  a  pro-  A  new 
rogation  of  fourteen  months,  (for  in  the  record  there  is  no  p^ament. 
mention  of  any  intermedial  prorogation,)  where  a  great  many 
laws,  relating  to  civil  concerns,  were  passed.     By  the  fifteenth  [Cap.  15. 

Statutes, 
7  For  dear  read  good.  [S.]     [The  author  followed  Herbert,  who  writes 
dear.~\ 


310 


THE   HISTORY  OF 


[PART  I. 


vol.  iii.  p. 
548.] 


The  lesser 
monas- 
teries are 
suppressed 


[Cap.  28. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii.  p. 
575-] 


[Herbert, 
p.  440.] 

[Fuller,  p. 
31°-] 


act,  the  power  that  had  been  given  by  a  former  act  to  the 
king,  for  naming  thirty-two  persons,  to  make  a  collection  of 
ecclesiastical  laws,  was  again  confirmed :  for  nothing  had  been 
done  upon  the  former  act.  But  there  was  no  limitation  of  time 
in  this  act,  and  so  there  was  nothing  done  in  pursuance  of  it. 

The  great  business  of  this  session  of  parliament  was,  the  sup- 
pressing the  lesser  monasteries.  How  this  went  through  the 
•  two  houses,  we  cannot  know  from  the  Journals,  for  they  are 
lost :  but  all  the  historians  of  that  time  tell  us,  that  the  report 
which  the  visitors  made  to  the  king  was  read  in  parliament ; 
which  represented  the  manners  of  these  houses  so  odiously, 
that  the  act  was  easily  carried.  The  preamble  bears,  "  That 
"  small  religious  houses,  under  the  number  of  twelve  persons, 
"  had  been  long  and  notoriously  guilty  of  vicious  and  abomin- 
"  able  living ;  and  did  much  consume  and  waste  their  churches, 
"  lands,  and  other  things  belonging  to  them ;  and  that  for 
"  above  two  hundred  years  there  had  been  many  visitations 
"  for  reforming  these  abuses,  but  with  no  success,  their  vicious 
w  living  increasing  daily :  so  that,  except  small  houses  were 
"  dissolved,  and  the  religious  put  into  greater  monasteries, 
"  there  could  no  reformation  be  expected  in  that  matter. 
"  Whereupon  the  king,  having  received  a  full  information  of 
"  these  abuses,  both  by  his  visitors,  and  other  credible  ways  ; 
"  and  considering  that  there  were  divers  great  monasteries  in 
u  which  religion  was  well  kept  and  observed,  which  had  not 
"  the  full  number  in  them  that  they  might  and  ought  to  re- 
"  ceive,  had  made  a  full  declaration  of  the  premises  in  parlia- 
"  ment.  Whereupon  it  was  enacted,  that  all  houses  which 
"  might  spend  yearly  two  hundred  pounds,  or  within  it,  should 
"  be  suppressed,  and  their  revenues  converted  to  better  uses, 
"  and  they  compelled  to  reform  their  lives."  The  lord  Herbert- 
thinks  it  strange  that  the  statute  in  the  printed  book  has  no 
preamble,  but  begins  bluntly.  Fuller  tells  us,  that  he  wonders 
that  lord  did  not  see  the  record ;  and  he  sets  down  the  pre- 
amble, and  says,  The  rest  follow  as  in  the  printed  statute, 
chap.  9Hth;  by  a  mistake  for  the  28th.  This  shews,  that 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  ever  looked  on  the  record :  for 
there  is  a  particular  statute  of  dissolution,  distinct  from  the 
28th  chapter ;  and  the  preamble  which  Fuller  sets  down  be- 
longs not  to  the  28th  chapter,  as  he  says,  but  to  the  18th 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     {i$$6.)  311 

chapter,  which  was  never  printed :  and  the  28th  relates  in  the 
preamble  to  that  other  statute,  which  had  given  these  monas- 
teries to  the  king. 

The  reasons  that  were  pretended  for  dissolving  these  houses  Reasons  for 
were ;  that  whereas  there  was  but  a  small  number  of  persons  mg  1 ' 
in  them,  they  entered  into  confederacies  together,  and  their 
poverty  set  them  on  to  use  many  ill  arts  to  grow  rich.  They 
were  also  much  abroad,  and  kept  no  manner  of  discipline  in 
their  houses.  But  those  houses  were  generally  much  richer 
than  they  seemed  to  be :  for  the  abbots,  raising  great  fines 
out  of  them,  held  the  leases  still  low ;  and  by  that  means  they 
were  not  obliged  to  entertain  a  greater  number  in  their  house, 
and  so  enriched  themselves  and  their  brethren  by  the  fines 
that  were  raised :  for  many  houses,  then  rated  at  two  hundred 
194  pounds,  were  worth  many  thousands,  as  will  appear  to  any 
that  compares  what  they  were  then  valued  at  (which  is  col- 
lected by  Speed)  with  what  their  estates  are  truly  worth.  [Speed,  pp. 
When  this  was  passing  in  parliament,  Stokesley,  bishop  of 
London,  said,  "  These  lesser  houses  were,  as  thorns,  soon 
"  plucked  up ;  but  the  great  abbots  were  like  putrefied  old 
"  oaks :  yet  they  must  needs  follow,  and  so  would  others  do  in 
(<  Christendom,  before  many  years  were  passed." 

By  another  act,  all  these  houses,  their  churches,  lands,  and  [Cap.  27. 
all  their  goods,  were  given  to  the  king,  and  his  heirs  and  sue-  yol  5 -j    ' 
cessors,  together  with  all  other  houses,  which  within  a  year  569-l 
before  the  making  of  the  act  had  been  dissolved  or  suppressed  : 
and,  for  the  gathering  the  revenues  that  belonged  to  them,  a 
new  court  was  erected,  called  the  court  of  the  augmentations  [Tbid.  p. 
of  the  king's  revenue ;  which  was  to  consist  of  a  chancellor,  a 
treasurer,  an  attorney  and  solicitor,  and  ten  auditors,  seventeen 
receivers,  a  clerk,  an  usher,  and  a  messenger.     This  court  was  [ibid.  p. 
to  bring  in  the  revenues  of  such  houses  as  were  now  dissolved,  571-] 
excepting  only  such  as  the  king,  by  his  letters-patents,  con- 
tinued in  their  former  state ;  appointing  a  seal  for  the  court, 
with  full  power  and  authority  to  dispose  of  these  lands  so  as 
might  be  most  for  the  king's  service. 

Thus  fell  the  lesser  abbeys,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred  Herbert. 
and  seventy-six ;   and  soon  after,  this  parliament,  which  had 
done  the  king  such  eminent  service,  and  had  now  sat  six  years, 
was  dissolved  on  the  fourteenth  of  April. 


312  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

The  trans-  In  the  convocation,  a  motion  was  made  of  great  consequence ; 
theKbie  ^hat  there  should  be  a  translation  of  the  Bible  in  English,  to 
in  English  be  set  up  in  all  the  churches  of  England.     The  clergy,  when 

dGSU  •'llGtl 

they  procured  Tyndale's  translation  to  be  condemned,  and  sup- 
pressed it,  gave  out  that  they  intended  to  make  a  translation  • 
into  the  vulgar  tongue :  yet  it  was  afterwards,  upon  a  long 
consultation,  resolved,  that  it  was  free  for  the  church  to  give 
the  Bible  in  a  vulgar  tongue,  or  not,  as  they  pleased ;  and 
that  the  king  was  not  obliged  to  it,  and  that  at  that  time  it 
was  not  at  all  expedient  to  do  it.  Upon  which,  those  that 
promoted  the  reformation  made  great  complaints,  and  said,  it 
was  visible  the  clergy  knew  there  was  an  opposition  between 
the  scriptures  and  their  doctrine  :  that  they  had  first  con- 
demned WyclifiVs  translation,  and  then  Tyndale's ;  and  though 
they  ought  to  teach  men  the  word  of  God,  yet  they  did  all 
they  could  to  suppress  it. 
The  rea-  In  the  times  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  scriptures  were  writ 

sons  or  i  .  jn  ^e  Yu|gar  tongue,  and  all  were  charged  to  read  and  re- 
member the  law.      The  apostles  wrote  in  Greek,  which  was 
then  the  most  common  language  in  the  world.     Christ  did  also 
appeal  to  the  scriptures,  and  sent  the  people  to  them.     And 
[2  Tim.  iii.  by  what  St.  Paul  says  of  Timothy,  it  appears,  that  children 
J5]  were  then  early  trained  up  in  that  study.     In  the  primitive 

church,  as  nations  were  converted  to  the  faith,  the  Bible  was 
translated  into  their  tongue.  The  Latin  translation  was  very 
ancient :  the  Bible  was  afterwards  put  into  the  Scythian,  Dal- 
matian, and  Gothic  tongues.  It  continued  thus  for  several 
ages,  till  the  state  of  monkery  rose ;  and  then,  when  they 
engrossed  the  riches,  and  the  popes  assumed  the  dominion,  of 
the  world,  it  was  not  consistent  with  these  designs,  nor  with 
the  arts  used  to  promote  them,  to  let  the  scriptures  be  much 
known :  therefore  legends  and  strange  stories  of  visions,  with  195 
other  devices,  were  thought  more  proper  for  keeping  up  their 
credit,  and  carrying  on  their  ends. 

It  was  now  generally  desired,  that  if  there  were  just  excep- 
tions against  what  Tyndale  had  done,  these  might  be  amended 
in  a  new  translation.  This  was  a  plausible  thing,  and  wrought 
much  on  all  that  heard  it ;  who  plainly  concluded,  that  those 
who  denied  the  people  the  use  of  the-  scriptures  in  their  vulgar 
tongues,  must  needs  know  their  own  doctrine  and  practices  to 


book  in.]  THE  KEFORMATION.     (1536.)  313 

be  inconsistent  with  it.  Upon  these  grounds  Cranmer,  who 
was  projecting  the  most  effectual  means  for  promoting  a  refor- 
mation of  doctrine,  moved  in  convocation,  that  they  should 
petition  the  king  for  leave  to  make  a  translation  of  the  Bible. 
But  Gardiner  and  all  his  party  opposed  it,  both  in  convocation, 
and  in  secret  with  the  king.  It  was  said,  that  all  the  heresies 
and  extravagant  opinions,  which  were  then  in  Germany,  and 
from  thence  coming  over  to  England,  sprang  from  the  free 
use  of  the  scriptures.  And  whereas  in  May  the  last  year,  The  oppo- 
nineteen  Hollanders  were  accused  of  some  heretical  opinions;  ^01^.nma  e 
"  denying  Christ  to  be  both  God  and  man,  or  that  he  took 
"  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  that  the  sacraments 
"  had  any  effect  on  those  that  received  them  ;"  in  which  opin- 
ions fourteen  of  them  remained  obstinate,  and  were  burnt  by 
pairs  in  several  places :  it  was  complained,  that  all  those  drew 
their  damnable  errors  from  the  indiscreet  use  of  the  scriptures. 
And  to  offer  the  Bible  in  the  English  tongue  to  the  whole 
nation,  during  these  distractions,  would  prove,  as  they  pre- 
tended, the  greatest  snare  that  could  be.  Therefore  they  pro- 
posed, that  there  should  be  a  short  exposition  of  the  most 
useful  and  necessary  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith  given  to 
the  people  in  the  English  tongue,  for  the  instruction  of  the 
nation,  which  would  keep  them  in  a  certain  subjection  to  the 
king  and  the  church,  in  matters  of  faith. 

The  other  party,  though  they  liked  well  the  publishing  such 
a  treatise  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  yet  by  no  means  thought  that 
sufficient ;  but  said,  the  people  must  be  allowed  to  search  the 
scripture,  by  which  they  might  be  convinced  that  such  treatises 
were  according  to  it.  These  arguments  prevailed  with  the 
two  houses  of  convocation :  so  they  petitioned  the  king,  that 
he  would  give  order  to  some  to  set  about  it.  To  this,  great 
opposition  was  made  at  court.  Some,  on  the  one  hand,  told 
the  king,  that  a  diversity  of  opinions  would  arise  out  of  it ;  and 
that  he  could  no  more  govern  his  subjects  if  he  gave  way  to 
that :  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  represented,  that  nothing 
would  make  his  supremacy  so  acceptable  to  the  nation,  and 
make  the  pope  more  hateful,  than  to  let  them  see,  that  whereas 
the  popes  had  governed  them  by  a  blind  obedience,  and  kept 
them  in  darkness,  the  king  brought  them  into  the  light,  and 
gave  them  the  free  us'e  of  the  word  of  God.    And  nothing  would 


314  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

more  effectually  extirpate  the  pope's  authority,  and  discover 
the  impostures  of  the  monks,  than  the  Bible  in  English ;  in 
which  all  people  would  clearly  discern,  there  was  no  foundation 
for  those  things.  These  arguments,  joined  with  the  power 
that  the  queen  had  in  his  affections,  were  so  much  considered 
by  the  king,  that  he  gave  order  for  setting  about  it  imme- 
diately. To  whom  that  work  was  committed,  or  how  they  196 
proceeded  in  it,  I  know  not :  for  the  account  of  these  things 
has  not  been  preserved  nor  conveyed  to  us  with  that  care  that 
the  importance  of  the  thing  required.  Yet  it  appears,  that 
the  work  was  carried  on  at  a  good  rate ;  for,  three 8  years 
after  this,  it  was  printed  at  Paris ;  which  shews  they  made 
all  convenient  haste  in  a  thing  that  required  so  much  delibe- 
ration. 
The  fall  But  this  was  the  last  public  good  act  of  this  unfortunate 

Aime!011     queen ;  who,  the  nearer  she  drew  to  her  end,  grew  more  full 
of  good  works.     She  had  distributed  in  the  last  nine  months 
of  her  life  between  fourteen  and  fifteen  thousand  pounds  to  the 
poor,  and  was  designing  great  and  public  good  things.     And 
by  all  appearance,  if  she  had  lived,  the  money  that  was  raised 
by  the  suppression  of  religious  houses  had  been  better  employed 
[Jan.  29.     than  it  was.     In  January,  she  brought  forth  a  dead  son.    This 
°g'°Y  '  was  thought  to  have  made  ill  impressions  on  the  king;  and 
that,  as  he  concluded  from  the  death  of  his  sons  by  the  former 
queen,  that  the  marriage  was  displeasing  to  God ;  so  he  might, 
upon  this  misfortune,  begin  to  make  the  like  judgment  of  this 
marriage.     Sure  enough  the  popish  party  were  earnestly  set 
against  the  queen,  looking  on  her  as  a  great  supporter  of 
heresy.     And  at  that  time  Fox,  then  bishop  of  Hereford,  was 
in  Germany,  at  Smalcald,  treating  a  league  with  the  protes- 
tant  princes,  who  insisted  much  on  the  Augsburg  Confession. 
The  whole  There  were  many  conferences  between  Fox  and  doctor  Barnes, 
partydrove  an(^  some  others,  with  the  Lutheran  divines,  for  accommodat- 
it  on.  ing  the  differences  between  them  ;  and  the  thing  was  in  a  good 

forwardness :  all  which  was  imputed  to  the  queen.  Gardiner 
was  then  ambassador  in  France,  and  wrote  earnestly  to  the 
king,  to  dissuade  him  from  entering  into  any  religious  league 
with  these  princes ;  for  that  would  alienate  all  the  world  from 
him,  and  dispose  his  own  subjects  to  rebel.  The  king  thought 
8  [See  note,  p.  249.] 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  315 

the  German  princes  and  divines  should  have  submitted  all 
things  to  his  judgment ;  and  had  such  an  opinion  of  his  own 
learning,  and  was  so  puffed  up  with  the  nattering  praises  that 
he  daily  heard,  that  he  grew  impatient  of  any  opposition,  and 
thought  that  his  dictates  should  pass  for  oracles.  And  because 
the  Germans  would  not  receive  them  so,  his  mind  was  alienated 
from  them. 

But  the  duke  of  Norfolk  at  court,  and  Gardiner  beyond  sea, 
thought  there  might  easily  be  found  a  mean  to  accommodate 
the  king,  both  with  the  emperor  and  the  pope,  if  the  queen 
were  once  out  of  the  way ;  for  then  he  might  freely  marry 
any  one  whom  he  pleased,  and  that  marriage,  with  the  male 
issue  of  it,  could  not  be  disputed :  whereas,  as  long  as  the 
queen  lived,  her  marriage,  as  being  judged  null  from  the  be- 
ginning, could  never  be  allowed  by  the  court  of  Rome,  or  any 
of  that  party.  With  these  reasons  of  state,  others  of  affection 
concurred.  The  queen  had  been  his  wife  three  years  :  but  at 
this  time  he  entertained  a  secret  love  for  Jane  Seymour,  who 
had  all  the  charms  both  of  beauty  and  youth  in  her  person  ; 
and  her  humour  was  tempered  between  the  severe  gravity  of 
queen  Catharine,  and  the  gay  pleasantness  of  queen  Anne. 
The  queen,  perceiving  this  alienation  of  the  king's  heart,  used 
all  possible  arts  to  recover  that  affection,  of  whose  decay  she 
was  sadly  sensible.  But  the  success  was  quite  contrary  to 
197  what  she  designed :  for  the  king  saw  her  no  more  with  those 
eyes,  which  she  had  formerly  captivated  ;  but  grew  jealous, 
and  ascribed  these  caresses  to  some  other  criminal  affections, 
of  which  he  began  to  suspect  her.  This  being  one  of  the  most 
memorable  passages  of  this  reign,  I  was  at  more  than  ordinary 
pains  to  learn  all  I  could  concerning  it ;  and  have  not  only 
seen  a  great  many  letters  that  were  writ  by  those  that  were 
set  about  the  queen,  and  catched  every  thing  that  fell  from 
her,  and  sent  it  to  court,  but  have  also  seen  an  account  of  it, 
which  the  learned  Spelman,  who  was  a  judge  at  that  time,  writ 
with  his  own  hand  in  his  common-place  book ;  and  another 
account  of  it,  writ  by  one  Anthony  Anthony,  a  surveyor  of  the 
ordnance  of  the  Tower.  From  all  which  I  shall  give  a  just 
and  faithful  relation  of  it,  without  concealing  the  least  circum- 
stance, that  may  either  seem  favourable  or  unfavourable 
to  her. 


316  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

The  king's  She  was  of  a  very  cheerful  temper,  which  was  not  always 
her.°USy  °  limited  within  the  bounds  of  exact  decency  and  discretion. 
She  had  rallied  some  of  the  king's  servants  more  than  became 
her.  Her  brother,  the  lord  Rochford,  was  her  friend,  as  well 
as  brother  ;  but  his  spiteful  wife  was  jealous  of  him  :  and,  being 
a  woman  of  no  sort  of  virtue,  (as  will  appear  afterwards  by 
her  serving  queen  Catharine  Howard  in  her  beastly  prac- 
tices, for  which  she  was  attainted  and  executed,)  she  carried 
many  stories  to  the  king,  or  some  about  him,  to  persuade,  that 
there  was  a  familiarity  between  the  queen  and  her  brother, 
beyond  what  so  near  a  relation  could  justify.  All  that  could 
be  said  for  it  was  only  this  ;  that  he  was  once  seen  leaning 
upon  her  bed,  which  bred  great  suspicion.  Henry  Norris,  that 
was  groom  of  the  stole ;  Weston  and  Brereton,  that  were  of 
the  king's  privy-chamber ;  and  one  Mark  Smeaton,  a  musician ; 
were  all  observed  to  have  much  of  her  favour.  And  their  zeal 
in  serving  her  was  thought  too  warm  and  diligent  to  flow  from 
a  less  active  principle  than  love.  Many  circumstances  were 
brought  to  the  king,  which,  working  upon  his  aversion  to  the 
queen,  together  with  his  affection  to  mistress  Seymour,  made 
him  conclude  her  guilty.  Yet  somewhat  which  himself  observed, 
or  fancied,  at  a  tilting  at  Greenwich,  is  believed  to  have  given 
[Herbert,  the  crisis  to  her  ruin.  It  is  said,  that  he  spied  her  let  her 
P,44"-J  handkerchief  fall  to  one  of  her  gallants  to  wipe  his  face,  being 
hot  after  a  course.  Whether  she  dropped  it  carelessly,  or  of 
design ;  or  whether  there  be  any  truth  in  that  story,  the  let- 
ters concerning  her  fall  making  no  mention  of  it,  I  cannot  de- 
termine ;  for  Spelman  makes  no  mention  of  it,  and  gives  a  very 
different  account  of  the  discovery  in  these  words :  As  for  the 
evidence  of  this  matter,  it  was  discovered  by  the  lady  Wing- 
field,  who  had  been  a  servant  to  the  queen,  and,  becoming  on 
a  sudden  infirm  some  time  before  her  death,  did  swear  this 

matter  to  one  of  her and  here  unluckily  the  rest  of  the 

page  is  torn  off.  By  this  it  seems,  there  was  no  legal  evidence 
against  the  queen,  and  that  it  was  but  a  witness  at  second 
hand,  who  deposed  what  they  heard  the  lady  Wingfield  swear. 
Who  this  person  was,  we  know  not,  nor  in  what  temper  of 
mind  the  lady  Wingfield  might  be,  when  she  swore  it.  The 
safest  sort  of  forgery,  to  one  whose  conscience  can  swallow  it, 
is,  to  lay  a  thing  on  a  dead  person's  name,  where  there  is  no 


book  iil]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  317 

198  fear  of  discovery  before  the  great  day.  And  when  it  was 
understood  that  the  queen  had  lost  the  king's  heart,  many, 
either  out  of  their  zeal  to  popery,  or  design  to  make  their 
fortune,  might  be  easily  induced  to  carry  a  story  of  this  nature. 
And  this,  it  seems,  was  that  which  was  brought  to  the  king  at 
Greenwich ;  who  did  thereupon  immediately  return  to  White- 
hall, it  being  the  first  of  May.  The  queen  was  immediately 
restrained  to  her  chamber  ;  the  other  five  were  also  seized  on. 
But  none  of  them  would  confess  any  thing  but  Mark  Smeaton,  The  letters 
as  to  any  actual  thing,  so  Cromwell  writ.  Upon  this  they  Cott_  lib ' ' 
were  carried  to  the  Tower.  The  poor  queen  was  in  a  sad  otho-  C.  x. 
condition  ;  she  must  not  only  fall  under  the  king's  displeasure, 
but  be  both  defamed  and  destroyed  at  once.  At  first  she 
smiled,  and  carried  it  cheerfully ;  and  said,  she  believed  the 
king  did  this  only  to  prove  her.  But  when  she  saw  it  was  in 
earnest,  she  desired  to  have  the  sacrament  in  her  closet,  and 
expressed  great  devotion,  and  seemed  to  be  prepared  for 
death. 

The  surprise  and  confusion  she  was  in  raised  fits  of  the 
mother,  which  those  about  her  did  not  seem  to  understand  : 
but  three  or  four  letters,  which  were  writ 9  concerning  her,  to  [Ibid.  fol. 
court,  say,  that  she  was  at  some  times  very  devout,  and  cried  222'* 
much ;  and  of  a  sudden  would  burst  out  in  laughter :  which 
are  evident  signs  of  vapours.    When  she  heard  that  those,  who 
were  accused  with  her,  were  sent  to  the  Tower,  she  then  con- 
cluded herself  lost ;   and  said,  she  should  be  sent  thither  next ; 
and  talked  idly,  saying,  "  that  if  her  bishops  were  about  the 
"  king,  they  would  all  speak  for  her.     She  also  said,  that  she 
"  would  be  a  saint  in  heaven,  for  she  had  done  many  good 
"  deeds ;  and  that  there  should  be  no  rain,  but  heavy  judg- 
"  ments  on  the  land,  for  what  they  were  now  doing  to  her." 
Her  enemies  had  now  gone  too  far  not  to  destroy  her.     Next  She  is  put 
day  she  was  carried  to  the  Tower,  and  some  lords,  that  met  "*  ax®d  ow" 
her  on  the  river,  declared  to  her  what  her  offences  were,  pleads  her 
Upon  which  she  made  deep  protestations  of  her  innocence,  and 
begged  leave  to  see  the  king  ;  but  that  was  not  to  be  expected. 

9  After  writ  add  '  by  sir  William  much  mutilated  by  fire ;   they  ap- 

Kingston  to   secretary   Cromwell.'  pear  in  the  first  series  of  Original 

[S.]  Letters  by  Ellis,  vol.  ii.  p.  52  sqq.] 

[These  letters    have    been   very 


318  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

When  she  was  carried  into  the  Tower,  "  she  fell  down  on  her 
"  knees,  and  prayed  God  to  help  her,  as  she  was  not  guilty  of 
"  the  thing  for  which  she  was  accused."  That  same  day  the 
king  wrote  to  Cranmer  to  come  to  Lambeth ;  but  ordered  him 
not  to  come  into  his  presence :  which  was  procured  by  the 
queen's  enemies,  who  took  care,  that  one  who  had  such  credit 
with  the  king  should  not  come  at  him  till  they  had  fully  per- 
suaded him  that  she  was  guilty.  Her  uncle's  lady,  the  lady 
Boleyn,  was  appointed  to  lie  in  the  chamber  with  her,  which 
she  took  very  ill ;  for,  upon  what  reason  I  know  not,  she  had 
been  in  very  ill  terms  with  her.  She  engaged  her  into  much 
discourse,  and  studied  to  draw  confessions  from  her.  Whatso- 
ever she  said  was  presently  sent  to  the  court :  and  a  woman 
full  of  vapours  was  like  enough  to  tell  every  thing  that  was 
true,  with  a  great  deal  more ;  for  persons  in  that  condition  not 
only  have  no  command  of  themselves,  but  are  apt  to  say  any 
thing  that  comes  in  their  fancy. 

The  duke  of  Norfolk,  and  some  of  the  king's  council,  were 
with  her  ;  but  could  draw  nothing  from  her,  though  they  made 
her  believe  that  Norris  and  Mark  had  accused  her.  But 
when  they  were  gone,  she  fell  down  on  her  knees  and  wept, 
and  prayed  often,  Jesu,  have  mercy  on  me ;  and  then  fell  a  199 
laughing :  when  that  fit  was  over,  she  desired  to  have  the 
sacrament  still  by  her,  that  she  might  cry  for  mercy.  And  she 
said  to  the  lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  she  was  as  clear  of  the 
company  of  all  men,  as  to  sin,  as  she  was  clear  from  him  ;  and 
that  she  was  the  king's  true  wedded  wife.  And  she  cried  out, 
"  0  Norris,  hast  thou  accused  me  ?  Thou  art  in  the  Tower 
"  with  me,  and  thou  and  I  shall  die  together  ;  and  Mark, 
"  so  shalt  thou  too."  She  apprehended  they  were  to  put  her 
in  a  dungeon  ;  and  sadly  bemoaned  her  own,  and  her  mother's 
misery  ;  and  asked  them,  whether  she  must  die  without  justice. 
But  they  told  her,  the  poorest  subjects  had  justice ;  much 
more  would  she  have  it.  The  same  letter  says,  that  Norris 
had  not  accused  her ;  and  that  he  said  to  her  almoner,  that  he 
could  swear  for  her,  she  was  a  good  ivoman.  But  she,  being 
made  believe  that  he  had  accused  her,  and  not  being  then 
so  free  in  her  thoughts  as  to  consider  that  ordinary  artifice  for 
drawing  out  confessions,  told  all  she  knew,  both  of  him  and 
Mark :  which  though  it  was  not  enough  to  destroy  her,  yet 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.    (1536.)  319 

certainly  wrought  much  on  the  jealous  and  alienated  king. 
She  told  them,  "  that  she  once  asked  Norris,  why  he  did  not  But  con- 
"  go  on  with  his  marriage  ?  who  answered  her,  That  he  would  indiscreet 
"  yet  tarry  some  time.  To  which  she  replied,  You  look  for  words- 
"  dead  men's  shoes  ;  for  if  aught  come  to  the  king  but  good, 
"  you  would  look  to  have  me.  He  answered,  If  he  had  any 
"  such  thought,  he  would  his  head  were  cut  off.  Upon  which 
"  she  said,  She  could  undo  him  if  she  pleased  ;  and  thereupon 
"  she  fell  out  with  him."  As  for  Mark,  who  was  then  laid 
in  irons,  she  said  he  was  never  in  her  chamber  but  when  the 
king  was  last  at  Winchester,  and  then  he  came  in  to  play  on 
the  virginals :  she  said,  "  that  she  never  spoke  to  him  after 
'•'  that,  but  on  Saturday  before  May-day,  when  she  saw  him 
"  standing  in  the  window,  and  then  she  asked  him,  Why  he 
"  was  so  sad  ?  he  said,  It  was  no  matter  :  she  answered,  You 
"  may  not  look  to  have  me  speak  to  you,  as  if  you  were  a 
"  nobleman,  since  you  are  an  inferior  person.  No,  no,  madam, 
"  said  he  ;  a  look  sufficeth  me."  She  seemed  more  apprehen- 
sive of  Weston  than  of  any  body.  For  on  Whitsun-Monday 
last  he  said  to  her,  "  That  Norris  came  more  to  her  chamber 
"  upon  her  account,  than  for  any  body  else  that  was  there. 
"  She  had  observed,  that  he  loved  a  kinswoman  of  hers,  and 
"  challenged  him  for  it,  and  for  not  loving  his  wife.  But  he 
"  answered  her,  That  there  were  women  in  the  house  whom  he 
"  loved  better  than  them  both :  she  asked,  Who  is  that  ? 
"  Yourself,  said  he ;  upon  which,  she  said,  she  defied  him." 

This  misery  of  the  queen's  drew  after  it  the  common  effects 
that  follow  persons  under  such  a  disgrace ;   for  now  all  the 
court  was  against  her,  and  every  one  was  courting  the  rising 
queen.     But  Cra'nmer  had  not  learned  these  arts  ;   and  had  a 
better  soul  in  him  than  to  be  capable  of  such  baseness  and 
ingratitude.     He  had  been  much  obliged  by  her,  and  had  con- 
ceived an  high  opinion  of  her,  and  so  could  not  easily  receive 
ill  impressions  of  her ;  yet  he  knew  the  king's  temper,  and 
that  a  downright  justification   of  her   would  provoke   him : 
therefore  he  wrote  the  following  letter  on  the  third  of  May,  [Cranmer's 
with  all  the  softness  that  so  tender  a  point  required  ;   in  which  cixXhTp. 
200  he  justified  her  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  prudence  and  323] 
charity.     The  letter  shews  of  what  a  constitution  he  was  that 
wrote  it ;   and  contains  so  many  things  that  tend  highly  to  her 


320 


THE   HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


honour,  that  I  shall  insert  it  here,  as  I  copied  it  from  the 


original. 


Cranmer's 
letter  to 
the  king 
about  her. 
Cott.  lib. 
Otho.  C.  x. 
[fol.  225.] 


[Job  xlii. 
10.] 


"  Pleaseth  it  your  most  noble  grace  to  be  advertised,  that 
at  your  grace's  commandment,  by  Mr.  Secretary's  letters, 
written  in  your  grace's  name,  I  came  to  Lambeth  yesterday, 
and  do  there  remain  to  know  your  grace's  further  pleasure. 
And  forsomuch  as  without  your  grace's  commandment  I  dare 
not,  contrary  to  the  contents  of  the  said  letters,  presume  to 
come  unto  your  grace's  presence  ;  nevertheless,  of  my  most 
bounden  duty,  I  can  do  no  less  than  most  humbly  to  desire 
your  grace,  by  your  great  wisdom,  and  by  the  assistance  of 
God's  help,  somewhat  to  suppress  the  deep  sorrows  of  your 
grace's  heart,  and  to  take  all  adversities  of  God's  hands10 
both  patiently  and  thankfully.  I  cannot  deny  but  your 
grace  hath  great  causes,  many  ways,  of  lamentable  heaviness : 
and  also,  that,  in  the  wrongful  estimation  of  the  world,  your 
grace's  honour  of  every  part  is  so  highly  touched,  (whether 
the  things  that  commonly  be  spoken  of  be  true,  or  not,)  that 
I  remember  not  that  ever  Almighty  God  sent  unto  your  grace 
any  like  occasion  to  try  your  grace's  constancy  throughout, 
whether  your  highness  can  be  content  to  take  of  God's 
hand,  as  well  things  displeasant,  as  pleasant.  And  if  he  find 
in  your  most  noble  heart  such  an  obedience  unto  his  will, 
that  your  grace,  without  murmuration  and  overmuch  heavi- 
ness, do  accept  all  adversities,  not  less  thanking  him  than 
when  all  things  succeed  after  your  grace's  will  and  pleasure, 
nor  less  procuring  his  glory  and  honour;  then  I  suppose 
your  grace  did  never  thing  more  acceptable  unto  him,  since 
your  first  governance  of  this  your  realm.  And  moreover, 
your  grace  shall  give  unto  him  occasion  to  multiply  and 
increase  his  graces  and  benefits  unto  your  highness,  as  he  did 
unto  his  most  faithful  servant  Job  ;  unto  whom,  after  his 
great  calamities  and  heaviness,  for  his  obedient  heart,  and 
willing  acceptation  of  God's  scourge  and  rod,  addidit  ei 
Domiiius  cuncta  duplicia.  And  if  it  be  true,  that  is  openly 
reported  of  the  queen's  grace,  if  men  had  a  right  estimation 
of  things,  they  should  not  esteem  any  part  of  your  grace's 
honour  to  be  touched  thereby,  but  her  honour  only  to  be 
10  [hand] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1536.)  321 

clearly  disparaged.  And  I  am  in  such  a  perplexity,  that  my 
mind  is  clean  amazed :  for  I  never  had  better  opinion  in 
woman,  than  I  had  in  her ;  which  maketh  me  to  think,  that 
she  should  not  be  culpable.  And  again,  I  think  your  high- 
ness would  not  have  gone  so  far,  except  she  had  surely  been 
culpable.  Now  I  think  that  your  grace  best  knoweth,  that, 
next  unto  your  grace,  I  was  most  bound  unto  her  of  all 
creatures  living.  Wherefore  I  most  humbly  beseech  your 
grace  to  suifer  me  in  that,  which  both  God's  law,  nature,  and 
also  her  kindness  bindeth  me  unto  ;  that  is,  that  I  may  with 
your  grace's  favour  wish  and  pray  for  her,  that  she  may 
declare  herself  inculpable  and  innocent.  And  if  she  be 
found  culpable,  considering  your  grace's  goodness  towards 
her,  and  from  what  condition  your  grace  of  your  only  mere 
goodness  took  her,  and  set  the  crown  upon  her  head ;  I 
repute  him  not  your  grace's  faithful  servant  and  subject,  nor 
true  unto  the  realm,  that  would  not  desire  the  offence  with- 
out mercy  to  be  punished,  to  the  example  of  all  other.  And 
as  I  loved  her  not  a  little,  for  the  love  which  I  judged  her  to 
bear  towards  God  and  his  gospel ;  so,  if  she  be  proved 
culpable,  there  is  not  one  that  loveth  God  and  his  gospel 
that  ever  will  favour  her,  but  must  hate  her  above  all  other ; 
and  the  more  they  favour  the  gospel,  the  more  they  will 
hate  her  :  for  then  there  was  never  creature  in  our  time 
that  so  much  slandered  the  gospel.  And  God  hath  sent  her 
this  punishment,  for  that  she  feignedly  hath  professed  his 
gospel  in  her  mouth,  and  not  in  heart  and  deed.  And 
though  she  have  offended  so,  that  she  hath  deserved  never 
to  be  reconciled  unto  your  grace's  favour ;  yet  Almighty  God 
hath  manifoldly  declared  his  goodness  towards  your  grace, 
and  never  offended  you.  But  your  grace,  I  am  sure,  know- 
ledgeth,  that  you  have  offended  him.  Wherefore  I  trust 
that  your  grace  will  bear  no  less  entire  favour  unto  the  truth 
of  the  gospel,  than  you  did  before  :  forsomuch  as  your 
grace's  favour  to  the  gospel  was  not  led  by  affection  unto 
her,  but  by  zeal  unto  the  truth.  And  thus  I  beseech 
Almighty  God,  whose  gospel  he  hath  ordained  your  grace  to 
be  defender  of,  ever  to  preserve  your  grace  from  all  evil, 
and  give  you  at  the  end  the  promise  of  his  gospel.  From 
Lambeth,  the  third  day  of  May. 

BURNET,  PART  I.  Y 


322  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

"  After  I  had  written  this  letter  unto  your  grace,  my  lord 
"  chancellor,  my  lord  of  Oxford,  my  lord  of  Sussex,  and  my 
"  lord  chamberlain  of  your  grace's  house,  sent  for  me  to  come 
"  unto  the  star-chamber ;  and  there  declared  unto  me  such 
"  things  as  your  grace's  pleasure  was  they  should  make  me 
"  privy  unto.  For  the  which  I  am  most  bounden  unto  your 
"  grace.  And  what  communication  we  had  together,  I  doubt 
"  not  but  they  will  make  the  true  report  thereof  unto  your 
"  grace.  T  am  exceedingly1'2  sorry  that  such  faults  can  be 
"  proved  by  the  queen,  as  I  heard  of  their  relation.  But  I  am, 
"  and  ever  shall  bo,  your  faithful  subject. 

"  Your  grace's  most  humble  subject,  and  chaplain, 

"  T.  Cantuariensis." 

But  jealousy,  and  the  king's  new  affection,  had  quite  defaced 
all  the  remainders  of  esteem  for  his  late  beloved  queen.  Yet 
the  ministers  continued  practising,  to  get  further  evidence  for 
the  trial;  which  was  not  brought  on  till  the  twelfth  of  May; 
and  then  Norris,  Weston,  Brereton,  and  Smeaton,  were  tried 
by  a  commission  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  in  Westminster-hall. 
They  were  twice  indicted,  and  the  indictments  were  found  by 
two  grand  juries,  in  the  counties  of  Kent  and  Middlesex  :  the 
crimes  with  which  they  were  charged  being  said  to  be  done  in  202 
both  these  counties.  Mark  Smeaton  confessed  he  had  known 
the  queen  carnally  three  times  ;  the  other  three  pleaded,  Not 
guilty :  but  the  jury,  upon  the  evidence  formerly  mentioned, 
found  them  all  guilty;  and  judgment  was  given,  that  they 
should  be  drawn  to  the  place  of  execution,  and  some  of  them  to 
be  hanged,  others  to  be  beheaded 1:J,  and  all  to  be  quartered,  as 
She  is  guilty  of  high  treason.  On  the  fifteenth  of  May,  the  queen, 
a  trial.  an(l  uer  brother  the  lord  Rochford,  (who  was  a  peer,  having 
been  made  a  viscount  when  his  father  was  created  earl  of 
[Dec.  8,  Wiltshire,)  were  brought  to  be  tried  by  their  peers  :  the  duke 
1 536-1  0f  Norfolk  being  lord  high  steward  for  that  occasion.  With 
him  sat  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  the  marquis  of  Exeter,  the  earl  of 

12  [exceeding.]  been  the  same,  though  executed  in 

13  It  is  said,  some  were  judged  to  different  ways,  by  order  from  the 
be  hanged,  and  others  to  be  be-  king.  [F.]  This  I  copied  from 
headed.  But  this  being  a  case  of  judge  Spelman's  common -place 
treason,  the  judgments  must  have  book.    [Author.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  323 

Arundel,  and  twenty-five  more  peers,  of  whom  their  father,  the 
earl  of  Wiltshire,  was  one. 

14  **  jn  this  J  t00  implicitly  followed  doctor  Heylyn ;  he  seem-  [Heylyn's 
ing  to  write  with  more  than  ordinary  care  for  the  vindication  of  Reforma. 
that  queen ;  and  with  such  assurance,  as  if  he  had  seen  the  tion> vo1-  "• 
records  concerning  her ;  so  that  1  took  this  upon  trust  from  1849.] 
him.  The  reason  of  it  was,  that,  in  the  search  I  made  of 
attainders,  I  did  not  find  the  record  of  her  trial ;  so  I  con- 
cluded, that  either  it  was  destroyed  by  order  during  her 
daughter's  reign,  or  was  accidentally  lost  since  that  time  :  and 
thus,  having  no  record  to  direct  me,  I  too  easily  followed  the 
printed  books  in  that  particular.  But,  after  that  part  of  this 
History  was  wrought  off,  I  by  chance  met  with  it  in  another 
place,  where  it  was  mislaid ;  and  there  I  discovered  the  error 
I  had  committed.  The  earl  of  Wiltshire  was  not  one  of  her 
judges ;  those  by  whom  she  was  tried  were,  the  duke  of 
Suffolk,  the  marquis  of  Exeter,  the  earls  of  Arundel,  Oxford, 
Northumberland,  Westmoreland,  Derby,  Worcester,  Rutland, 
Sussex,  and  Huntingdon,  and  the  lords  Audley,  Delaware, 
Mountague,  Morley,  Dacres,  Cobham,Maltravers,  Powis,  Mount- 
eagle,  Clinton,  Sandys,  Windsor,  Went  worth,  Burgh,  and  Mor- 
daunt :  in  all  twenty-six,  and  not  twenty-eight,  as  I  reckoned 
them  upon  a  vulgar  error.  The  record  mentions  one  particu- 
lar concerning  the  earl  of  Northumberland  ;  that  he  was  taken 
with  a  sudden  fit  of  sickness,  and  was  forced  to  leave  the  court 
before  the  lord  Rochford  was  tried.  This  might  have  been 
only  casual ;  but  since  he  was  once  in  love  with  the  queen,  and 
had  designed  to  marry  her,  (see  page  44,)  it  is  no  wonder  if 

14  [There  are  seven  passages  in-  knowledge  to  be  put  in  their  proper 
troduced  into  the  text  of  this  volume  places,  I  shall  here  add  them,  with 
between  asterisks,  thus  **,  which  references  to  the  places  to  which 
appear  in  all  the  folio  editions  as  they  belong."  [The  other  pas- 
Addenda,  with  the  following  notice  sages  are  at  pp.  217,  249,  255,  256, 
prefixed  to  them.]  "After  some  of  258,  and  262.  The  above  passage 
the  sheets  of  this  History  were  was  introduced  with  the  following 
wrought  off,  I  met  with  manuscripts  sentence  :] 
of  great  authority,  out  of  which  I  "  Ad  page  202  line  13." 
have  collected  several  particulars,  "  There  it  is  said,  that  the  earl  of 
that  give  a  clear  light  to  the  pro-  Wiltshire,  father  to  queen  Anne 
ceedings  in  these  times;  which,  Boleyn,  was  one  of  the  peers  that 
since  they  came  too  late   to    my  judged  her." 

Y  2 


324 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Cap.  13. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii.  p. 
508.] 


[Stat.  5. 
cap.  2. 
Statutes, 
vol.  1. 
P-3I9-] 


so  sad  a  change  in  her  condition  did  raise  an  unusual  disorder 
in  him. 

When  I  had  discovered  the  mistake  I  had  made,  as  I 
resolved  to  publish  this  free  confession  of  it,  so  I  set  myself, 
not  without  some  indignation,  to  examine  upon  what  authority 
doctor  Heylyn  had  led  me  into  it.  I  could  find  no  author  that 
went  before  him  in  it  but  Sanders  ;  the  chief  design  of  whose 
writing  was,  to  defame  queen  Elizabeth,  and  to  blast  her  title 
to  the  crown.  To  that  end,  it  was  no  ill  piece  of  his  skill 
to  persuade  the  world  of  her  mother's  lewdness ;  to  say,  that 
her  own  father  was  convinced  of  it,  and  condemned  her  for 
it.  And  doctor  Heylyn  took  this,  as  he  has  done  many  other 
things,  too  easily  upon  Sanders'  testimony.  *  * 

Whether  this  unnatural  compliance  was  imposed  on  him 
by  the  imperious  king,  or  officiously  submitted  to  by  himself, 
that  he  might  thereby  be  preserved  from  the  ruin  that  fell 
on  his  family,  is  not  known.  Here  the  queen  of  England, 
by  an  unheard-of  precedent,  was  brought  to  the  bar,  and 
indicted  of  high  treason.  The  crimes  charged  on  her  were, 
That  she  had  procured  her  brother,  and  the  other  four,  to  lie 
with  her,  which  they  had  done  often;  that  she  had  said 
to  them,  that  the  king  never  had  her  heart,  and  had  said 
to  every  one  of  them  by  themselves,  that  she  loved  them  better 
than  any  person  whatsoever  :  which  was  to  the  slander  of  the 
issue  that  was  begotten  between  the  king  and  her.  And  this 
was  treason,  according  to  the  statute  made  in  the  twenty-sixth 
year  of  this  reign,  (so  that  the  law  that  was  made  for  her,  and 
the  issue  of  her  marriage,  is  now  made  use  of  to  destroy  her.) 
It  was  also  added  in  the  indictment,  that  she  and  her  complices 
had  conspired  the  king^s  death  :  but  this,  it  seems,  was  only 
put  in  to  swell  the  charge  ;  for  if  there  had  been  any  evidence 
for  it,  there  was  no  need  of  stretching  the  other  statute  ;  or  if 
they  could  have  proved  the  violating  of  the  queen,  the  known 
statute  of  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the 
Third  had  been  sufficient.  When  the  indictment  was  read, 
she  held  up  her  hand,  and  pleaded  Not  guilty,  and  so  did  her 
brother ;  and  did  answer  the  evidence  [which]  was  brought 
against  her  discreetly.  One  thing  is  remarkable,  that  Mark 
Smeaton,  who  was  the  only  person  that  confessed  any  thing, 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.  (1536.)  325 

was  never  confronted  with  the  queen,  nor  was  kept  to  be  an 
evidence  against  her,  for  he  had  received  his  sentence  three 
days  before,  and  so  could  be  no  witness  in  law ;  but  perhaps, 
though  he  was  wrought  on  to  confess,  yet  they  did  not  think 
he  had  confidence  enough  to  aver  it  to  the  queen's  face ;  there- 
fore the  evidence  they  brought,  as  Spelraan  says,  was  the  oath 
of  a  woman  that  was  dead :  yet  this,  or  rather  the  terror 
of  offending  the  king,  so  wrought  on  the  lords,  that  they  found 
her  and  her  brother  guilty ;  and  judgment  was  given,  that  she 
should  be  burnt  or  beheaded  at  the  king's  pleasure.  Upon 
which  Spelman  observes,  that  whereas  burning  is  the  death 
which  the  law  appoints  for  a  woman  that  is  attainted  of 
treason ;  yet,  since  she  had  been  queen  of  England,  they  left 
it  to  the  king  to  determine,  whether  she  should  die  so  infamous 
a  death,  or  be  beheaded  :  but  the  judges  complained  of  this 
way  of  proceeding,  and  said,  such  a  disjunctive,  in  a  judgment 
203  of  treason,  had  never  been  seen.  The  lord  Rochford  was  also 
condemned  to  be  beheaded  and  quartered.  Yet  all  this  did 
not  satisfy  the  enraged  king ;  but  the  marriage  between  him 
and  her  must  be  annulled,  and  the  issue  illegitimated.  The 
king  remembered  an  intrigue  that  had  been  between  her  and 
the  earl  of  Northumberland,  which  was  mentioned  in  the  former 
book  ;  and  that  he,  then  lord  Percy,  had  said  to  the  cardinal, 
"  That  he  had  gone  so  far  before  witnesses,  that  it  lay  upon 
"  his  conscience,  so  that  he  could  not  go  back ; "  this,  it  is  like, 
might  be  some  promise  he  made  to  marry  her,  per  verba  de 
futuro,  which  though  it  was  no  precontract  in  itself,  yet  it 
seems  the  poor  queen  was  either  so  ignorant,  or  so  ill-advised, 
as  to  be  persuaded  afterwards  it  was  one ;  though  it  is  certain 
that  nothing  but  a  contract  per  verba  de  praisenti  could  be  of 
any  force  to  annul  the  subsequent  marriage.  The  king  and 
his  council,  reflecting  upon  what  it  seems  the  cardinal  had  told 
him,  resolved  to  try  what  could  be  made  of  it.  and  pressed  the 
earl  of  Northumberland  to  confess  a  contract  between  him  and 
her.  But  he  took  his  oath  before  the  two  archbishops,  that 
there  was  no  contract,  nor  promise  of  marriage,  ever  between 
them  ;  and  received  the  sacrament  upon  it,  before  the  duke  of 
Norfolk,   and  others   of  the  king's  privy  council1'',  wishing 

15  For  privy  council,  read  his  learned  council  in  the  law  spiritual.    [S.] 


32G 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[May  13.] 


Upon  an 
extorted 
confession 
is  di- 
vorced. 

[Cap.  7. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii. 
P-  655-] 


it  might  be  to  his  damnation,  if  there  were  any  such  thing  : 
(concerning  which  I  have  seen  the  original  declaration 16  under 
his  own  hand.)  Nor  could  they  draw  any  confession  from  the 
queen,  before  the  sentence :  for  certainly  if  they  could  have 
done  that,  the  divorce  had  gone  before  the  trial ;  and  then  she 
must  have  been  tried  only  as  marchioness  of  Pembroke.  But 
now,  she  lying  under  so  terrible  a  sentence,  it  is  most  probable 
that  either  some  hopes  of  life  were  given  her,  or  at  least  she 
was  wrought  on  by  the  assurances  of  mitigating  that  cruel  part 
of  her  judgment,  of  being  burnt,  into  the  milder  part  of  the 
sentence  of  having  her  head  cut  off ;  so  that  she  confessed 
a  precontract,  and  on  the  seventeenth  of  May  was  brought 
to  Lambeth  :  and  in  court,  the  afflicted  archbishop  sitting 
judge,  some  persons  of  quality  being  present,  she  confessed 
some  just  and  lawful  impediments ;  by  which  it  was  evident, 
that  her  marriage  with  the  king  was  not  valid.  Upon  which 
confession,  the  marriage  between  the  king  and  her  was  judged 
to  have  been  null  and  void.  The  record  of  the  sentence  is 
burnt :  but  these  particulars  are  repeated  in  the  act  that  passed 
in  the  next  parliament,  touching  the  succession  to  the  crown. 
It  seems  this  was  secretly  done,  for  Spelman  writes  of  it  thus  ; 
It  was  said,  there  was  a  divorce  made  between  the  king  and 
her,  upon  her  confessing  a  precontract  with  another  before  her 
marriage  with  the  king ;  so  that  it  was  then  only  talked  of, 
but  not  generally  known. 

The  two  sentences  that  were  passed  upon  the  queen,  the  one 
of  attainder  for  adultery,  the  other  of  divorce,  because  of  a 
precontract,  did  so  contradict  one  another,  that  it  was  apparent 
one,  if  not  both  of  them,  must  be  unjust ;  for  if  the  marriage 
between  the  king  and  her  was  null  from  the  beginning,  then, 
since  she  was  not  the  king's  wedded  wife,  there  could  be  no 
adultery :  and  her  marriage  to  the  king  was  either  a  true 
marriage,  or  not :  if  it  was  true,  then  the  annulling  of  it  was 
unjust ;  and  if  it  was  no  true  marriage,  then  the  attainder  was 
unjust ;  for  there  could  be  no  breach  of  that  faith  which  was 


16  The  original  declaration  should 
have  been  set  down.  [F.]  But  I 
thought  that  not  necessary,  for  the 
lord  Herbert  [p.  448.]  has  published 
it,  only  he  forgot  to  add  the  sub- 


scription to  it,  which  I  ought  to 
have  mentioned  in  its  proper  place, 
but  it  escaped  me,  and  therefore  I 
do  it  here.    [Author.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  327 

204  never  given  :  so  that  it  is  plain,  the  king  was  resolved  to  be  rid 
of  her,  and  to  illegitimate  her  daughter,  and  in  that  transport 
of  his  fury  did  not  consider  that  the  very  method  he  took 
discovered  the  injustice  of  his  proceedings  against  her.  Two 
days  after  this,  she  was  ordered  to  be  executed  in  the  green  on 
Tower-hill.  How  she  "received  these  tidings,  and  how  stedfast 
she  continued  in  the  protestations  of  her  innocence,  will  best 
appear  by  the  following  circumstances.  The  day  before  she  Her  prepa- 
suffered,  upon  a  strict  search  of  her  past  life,  she  called  to  mind,  ™e^ 
that  she  had  played  the  step-mother  too  severely  to  lady  Mary, 
and  had  done  her  many  injuries.  Upon  which,  she  made  the 
lieutenant  of  the  Tower's  lady  sit  down  in  the  chair  of  state ; 
which  the  other,  after  some  ceremony,  doing,  she  fell  down  on 
her  knees,  and  with  many  tears  charged  the  lady,  as  she 
would  answer  it  to  God,  to  go  in  her  name,  and  do,  as  she  had 
done,  to  the  lady  Mary,  and  ask  her  forgiveness  for  the  wrongs 
she  had  done  her.  And  she  said,  she  had  no  quiet  in  her 
conscience  till  she  had  clone  that,  but  thought  she  did  in  this 
what  became  a  Christian.  The  lady  Mary  could  not  so  easily 
pardon  these  injuries ;  but  retained  the  resentments  of  them 
her  whole  life. 

This  ingenuity  and  tenderness  of  conscience  about  lesser 
matters,  is  a  great  presumption,  that  if  she  had  been  guilty  of 
more  eminent  faults,  she  had  not  continued  to  the  last  denying 
them,  and  making  protestations  of  her  innocency.  For  that 
same  night  she  sent  her  last  message  to  the  king,  and  acknow- 
ledged herself  much  obliged  to  him,  that  had  continued  still  to 
advance  her.  She  said,  he  had,  from  a  private  gentlewoman, 
first  made  her  a  marchioness,  and  then  a  queen ;  and  now, 
since  he  could  raise  her  no  higher,  was  sending  her  to  be  a 
saint  in  heaven  :  she  protested  her  innocence,  and  recom- 
mended her  daughter  to  his  care.  And  her  carriage  that  day 
she  died  will  appear  from  the  following  letter,  writ  by  the 
lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  copied  from  the  original,  which  I 
insert,  because  the  copier  employed  by  the  lord  Herbert  has  [Herbert, 
not  writ  it  out  faithfully  ;  for  I  cannot  think  that  any  part  of  p*  449 
it  was  left  out  on  design. 

"  Sir,   These  shall  be  to  advertise  you,  I  have  received  The  lieu- 
"  your  letter,  wherein  you  would  have  strangers  conveyed  out  theTower's 
"  of  the  Tower;  and  so  they  be  by  the  means  of  Richard  letter. 


328  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

[Cotton       «  Gressum    and  William    Cooke   and  Wytspoll1?.      But    the 

MSS  . 

Otho!  "  number  of  strangers  passed  not  thirty,  and  not  many  of18 

9;x-     ,      "  those19;  and  the  ambassador  of  the  emperor  had  a  servant 

IOl.  22  3.1 

"  there,  and  honestly  put  out.  Sir,  if  we  have  not  an  hour 
"  certain,  as  it  may  be  known  in  London,  I  think  here  will 
"  be  but  few,  and  I  think  a  reasonable  number  were  best ;  for 
"  I  suppose  she  will  declare  herself  to  be  a  good  woman,  for  all 
"  men  but  for  the  king,  at  the  hour  of  her  death.  For  this 
"  morning  she  sent  for  me,  that  I  might  be  with  her  at  such 
"  time  as  she  received  the  good  Lord,  to  the  intent  I  should 
"  hear  her  speak  as  touching  her  innocency  alway  to  be  clear. 
"  And  in  the  writing  of  this  she  sent  for  me,  and  at  my  coming 
"  she  said  :  Mr.  Kyngston,  I  hear  say  I  shall  not  die  aforenoon, 
"  and  I  am  very  sorry  therefore,  for  I  thought  to  be  dead  by 
"  this  time,  and  past  my  pain.  I  told  her,  it  should  be  no 
"  pain,  it  was  so  sottle.  And  then  she  said,  I  heard  say  the 
"  executioner  was  very  good,  and  I  have  a  little  neck ;  and  205 
"  put  her  hands  about  it,  laughing  heartily.  I  have  seen 
"  many  men,  and  also  women,  executed,  and  that  they  have 
"  been  in  great  sorrow ;  and  to  my  knowledge  this  lady  has 
"  much  joy  and  pleasure  in  death.  Sir,  her  almoner  is  con- 
"  tinually  with  her,  and  had  been  since  two-a-clock  after  mid- 
"  night.  This  is  the  effect  of  any  thing  that  is  here  at  this 
"  time,  and  thus  fare  you  well. 

"  Yours, 

"  William  Kyngston20." 

Her  execu-      A  little  before  noon,  being  the  nineteenth  of  May,  she  was 
bert  p.  CT*  Drougnt  to  the  scaffold,  where  she  made  a  short  speech  to 

449-1 

17  For  Cooke  read  Loke ;  and  for  are  Richard  Gressum,  William  Coke, 
Wetspall  read  Wythspall.     [S.]  or  perhaps   Lake,   and  Wythspoll. 

18  Here  seems  to  be  a  word  or  The  other  word  on  which  Strype  has 
more  wanting.  [F.]  It  is  wanting  commented  is  certainly  either  hothe 
in  the  original,  but  it  should  have  or  lothe.  The  word  sottle  which 
been  supplied  by  a  conjecture  on  the  Herbert,  p.  449,  has  printed  sotell 
margin.  Armed  seems  to  be  the  is  entirely  destroyed  in  the  original 
word  that  agrees  best  to  the  sense.  MS.  It  has  been  printed  in  Ellis' 
[Author.]  Original  Letters,  First  Series,  vol.  ii. 

19  For  of  those  read  hothe,  that  p.  64,  exactly  as  it  stands  in  the 
is,  of  other.    [S.]  MS.    at    present.     He    spells    the 

20  [This  letter  has  been  con-  names,  Loke  and  Wythepoll,  and 
siderably  burned,  and  many  words  appears  to  think  Hothe  is  a  proper 
are  difficult  to  make  out.  The  names  name.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  329 

a  great  company  that  came  to  look  on  the  last  scene  of  this 
fatal  tragedy  :  the  chief  of  whom  were,  the  dukes  of  Suffolk 
and  Richmond,  the  lord  chancellor,  and  secretary  Cromwell, 
with  the  lord  mayor,  the  sheriffs,  and  aldermen  of  London. 
"  She  said,  she  was  come  to  die,  as  she  was  judged  by  the 
"  law  ;  she  would  accuse  none,  nor  say  any  thing  of  the  ground 
"  upon  which  she  was  judged.  She  prayed  heartily  for  the 
"  king,  and  called  him  a  most  merciful  and  gentle  prince,  and 
"  that  he  had  been  always  to  her  a  good,  gentle,  sovereign 
"  lord ;  and  if  any  would  meddle  with  her  cause,  she  required 
"  them  to  judge  the  best.  And  so  she  took  her  leave  of  them, 
"  and  of  the  world,  and  heartily  desired  they  would  pray  for 
"  her."  After  she  had  been  some  time  in  her  devotions,  her  last 
words  being,  To  Christ  I  commend  my  soul,  her  head  was  cut 
off  by  the  hangman  of  Calais,  who  was  brought  over  as  more 
expert  at  beheading  than  any  in  England  :  her  eyes  and  lips 
were  observed  to  move  after  her  head  was  cut  off,  as  Spelman 
writes ;  but  her  body  was  thrown  into  a  common  chest  of  elm- 
tree,  that  was  made  to  put  arrows  in,  and  was  buried  in  the 
chapel  within  the  Tower,  before  twelve  o'clock. 

Her  brother,  with  the  other  four,  did  also  suffer :  none 
of  them  were  quartered,  but  they  were  all  beheaded,  except 
Smeaton,  who  was  hanged.  It  was  generally  said,  that  he 
was  corrupted  into  that  confession,  and  had  his  life  promised 
him  ;  but  it  was  not  fit  to  let  him  live  to  tell  tales.  Norris  had 
been  much  in  the  king's  favour,  and  an  offer  was  made  him  of 
his  life,  if  he  would  confess  his  guilt,  and  accuse  the  queen. 
But  he  generously  rejected  that  unhandsome  proposition,  and 
said,  "  That  in  his  conscience  he  thought  her  innocent  of  these 
"  things  laid  to  her  charge  :  but  whether  she  was  or  not,  he 
"  would  not  accuse  her  of  any  thing  ;  and  he  would  die  a 
"  thousand  times,  rather  than  ruin  an  innocent  person." 

These  proceedings  occasioned  as  great  variety  of  censures,  The  several 
as  there  were  diversity  of  interests.     The  popish  partv  said,  ^en^ures 

"  r  r         r       "  '  that  were 

The  justice  of  God  was  visible,  that  she,  who  had  supplanted  thenpassed 
queen  Catharine,  met  with  the  like,  and  harder  measure,  by  proceecf- 
the  same  means.     Some  took  notice  of  her  faint  justifying  ings. 
herself  on  the  scaffold,  as  if  her  conscience  had  then  prevailed 
so  far,  that  she  could  no  longer  deny  a  thing,  for  which  she 
was  so  soon  to  answer  at  another  tribunal.    But  others  thought 


330  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

her  care  of  her  daughter  made  her  speak  so  tenderly  ;  for  she  206 

had  observed,  that  queen  Catharine's  obstinacy  had  drawn  the 

king's  indignation  on  her  daughter ;  and  therefore,  that  she 

alone  might  bear  her  misfortunes,  and  derive  no  share  of  them 

on  her  daughter,  she  spake  in  a  style  that  could  give  the  king 

no  just  offence :  and  as  she  said  enough  to  justify  herself,  so 

she  said  as  much  for  the  kingls  honour  as  could  be  expected. 

Yet,  in  a  letter  that  she  wrote  to  the  king  from  the  Tower, 

Collect.      (which  will  be  found  in  the  Collection,)  she  pleaded  her  in- 
Numb.  4.    v  .  „  1       •  .  • 

nocence  in  a  strain  01  so  much  wit,  and  moving  passionate 

eloquence,  as  perhaps  can  scarce  be  paralleled :  certainly  her 
spirits  were  much  exalted  when  she  wrote  it,  for  it  is  a  pitch 
above  her  ordinary  style.  Yet  the  copy  I  take  it  from,  lying 
among  Cromwell's  other  papers,  makes  me  believe  it  was  truly 
written  by  her. 

Her  carriage  seemed  too  free  ;  and  all  people  thought  that 
some  freedoms  and  levities  in  her  had  encouraged  those  un- 
fortunate persons  to  speak  such  bold  things  to  her,  since  few 
attempt  upon  the  chastity,  or  make  declarations  of  love,  to 
persons  of  so  exalted  a  quality,  except  they  see  some  invitations, 
at  least  in  their  carriage.  Others  thought  that  a  free  and 
jovial  temper  might,  with  great  innocence,  though  with  no  dis- 
cretion, lead  one  to  all  those  things  that  were  proved  against 
her  ;  and  therefore  they  concluded  her  chaste,  though  indis- 
creet. Others  blamed  the  king,  and  taxed  his  cruelty  in  pro- 
ceeding so  severely  against  a  person  whose  chastity  he  had 
reason  to  be  assured  of,  since  she  had  resisted  his  addresses 
near  five  years,  till  he  legitimated  them  by  marriage21.  But 
others  excused  him.  It  is  certain  her  carriage  had  given  just 
cause  of  some  jealousy,  and  that  being  the  rage  of  a  man, 

21  Andre  Thevet,  a  French  Fran-  against    their    interest ;     and     the 

ciscan,  who  writ  some  years  after  Franciscan  order  had   suffered   so 

this  an  universal  cosmography,  says,  much  for  their  adhering  to  queen 

lib.xvi.  cap.  5,  that  he  was  assured  Catharine's  interests,  in  opposition 

by  divers  English  gentlemen,  that  to  Anne  Boleyn,  that  it  is  not  likely 

king  Henry  at  his  death,  among  his  one  of  that  order  would  have  strained 

other  sins,  repented  in  particular  of  a  point  to  tell  an  honourable  story 

the  wrong  he  had  done  the  queen  in  of  her.     This  was  made  use  of  in 

destroying  her  by  a  false  accusation,  queen  Elizabeth's  time  to  vindicate 

And  though  Thuanus  makes  him  an  her  memory  ;    see   Saravia,  Tract, 

author  of  no  credit,   yet  there   is  cont.  Bezam,  cap.  2,  versus  finem. 

no  reason  to  suspect  him  in  this  [F.] 
particular,   for    writers   seldom  lie 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  331 

it  was  no  wonder  if  a  king  of  his  temper,  conceiving  it  against 
one  whom  he  had  so  signally  obliged,  was  transported  into 
unjustifiable  excesses. 

Others  condemned  Cranmer,  as  a  man  that  obsequiously 
followed  all  the  king's  appetites  ;  and  that  he  had  now  divorced 
the  king  a  second  time,  which  shewed  that  his  conscience  was 
governed  by  the  king's  pleasure,  as  his  supreme  law.  But 
what  he  did  was  unavoidable.  For  whatever  motives  drew 
from  her  the  confession  of  that  precontract,  he  was  obliged  to 
give  sentence  upon  it ;  and  that  which  she  confessed  being 
such  as  made  her  incapable  to  contract  marriage  with  the  king, 
he  could  not  decline  the  giving  of  sentence  upon  so  formal 
a  confession.  Some  loaded  all  that  favoured  the  reformation  ; 
and  said,  it  now  appeared  what  a  woman  their  great  patroness 
and  supporter  had  been.  But  to  those  it  was  answered,  that 
her  faults,  if  true,  being  secret,  could  cast  no  reflection  on  those, 
who,  being  ignorant  of  them,  made  use  of  her  protection.  And 
the  church  of  Rome  thought  not  their  cause  suffered  by  the 
enraged  cruelty  and  ambition  of  the  cursed  Irene,  who  had 
convened  the  second  council  of  Nice,  and  set  up  the  worship  of 
images  again  in  the  east ;  whom  the  popes  continued  to  court 
and  magnify,  after  her  barbarous  murder  of  her  son,  with 
other  acts  of  unsatiated  spite  and  ambition.  Therefore  they 
had  no  reason  to  think  the  worse  of  persons  for  claiming  the 
protection  of  a  queen,  whose  faults  (if  she  was  at  all  criminal) 
were  unknown  to  them  when  they  made  use  of  her. 

Some  have,  since  that  time,  concluded  it  a  great  evidence  of 
her  guilt,  that,  during  her  daughter's  long  and  glorious  reign, 
there  was  no  full  nor  complete  vindication  of  her  published. 
207  For  the  writers  of  that  time  thought  it  enough  to  speak 
honourably  of  her,  and,  in  general,  to  call  her  innocent :  but 
none  of  them  ever  attempted  a  clear  discussion  of  the  particu- 
lars laid  to  her  charge.  This  had  been  much  to  her  daughter's 
honour  ;  and  therefore,  since  it  was  not  done,  others  concluded 
it  could  not  be  done,  and  that  their  knowledge  of  her  guilt  re- 
strained their  pens.  But  others  do  not  at  all  allow  of  that  in- 
ference, and  think  rather,  that  it  was  the  great  wisdom  of  that 
time  not  to  suffer  such  things  to  be  called  in  question,  since  no 
wise  government  will  admit  of  a  debate  about  the  clearness  of 
the   prince's   title.      For    the   very   attempting   to   prove    it 


332  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

weakens  it  more  than  any  of  the  proofs  that  arc  brought  can 
confirm  it ;  therefore  it  was  prudently  done  of  that  queen,  and 
her  great  ministers,  never  to  suffer  any  vindication  or  apology 
to  be  written.  Some  indiscretions  could  not  be  denied;  and 
these  would  all  have  been  catched  hold  of,  and  improved  by 
the  busy  emissaries  of  Rome  and  Spain. 

But  nothing  did  more  evidently  discover  the  secret  cause  of 

this  queen's  ruin,  than  the  king's  marrying  Jane  Seymour  the 

[May  20.]   day  after  her  execution.     She,  of  all  king   Henry's   wives, 

gained  most  on  his  esteem  and  affection  :  but  she  was  happy  in 

one  thing,  that  she  did  not  outlive  his  love ;    otherwise  she 

might  have  fallen  as  signally  as  her  predecessor  had  done. 

Upon  this  turn  of  affairs  a  great  change  of  counsels  followed. 

The  lady         There  was  nothing  now  that  kept  the  emperor  and  the  king 

deavours  a  at  a  distance,  but  the  illegitimation  of  the  lady  Mary ;    and 

reconciha-   jf  £jia£  matter  had  been  adjusted,  the  king;  was  in  no  more 

tion  with  J  & 

herfather.   hazard  of  trouble  from  him :  therefore  it  was  proposed,  that 
[   er  ert,    gjie  j^g]^  \ye  again  restored  to  the  kind's  favour.     She  found 

p.  450.J  O  O  _  & 

this  was  the  best  opportunity  she  could  ever  look  for,  and 
therefore  laid  hold  on  it,  and  wrote  an  humble  submission 
to  the  king,  and  desired  again  to  be  admitted  to  his  presence. 
But  her  submissions  had  some  reserves  in  them ;  therefore  she 
was  pressed  to  be  more  express  in  her  acknowledgments.  At 
this  she  stuck  long,  and  had  almost  embroiled  herself  again 
with  her  father.  She  freely  offered  to  submit  to  the  laws 
of  the  land  about  the  succession,  and  confessed  the  fault  of  her 
former  obstinacy.  But  the  king  would  have  her  acknowledge, 
that  his  marriage  to  her  mother  was  incestuous  and  unlawful ; 
and  to  renounce  the  pope's  authority,  and  to  accept  him  as 
supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England.  These  things  were 
of  hard  digestion  with  her,  and  she  could  not  easily  swallow 
them  ;  so  she  wrote  to  Cromwell  to  befriend,  her  at  the -king's 
hands.  Upon  which  many  letters  passed  between  them.  He 
wrote  to  her,  that  it  was  impossible  to  recover  her  father's 
favour,  without  a  full  and  clear  submission  in  all  points.  So  in 
the  end  she  yielded  ;  and  sent  the  following  paper,  all  written 
with  her  own  hand,  which  is  set  down  as  it  was  copied  from  the 
original  yet  extant. 

"  The  confession  of  me,  the  lady  Mary,  made  upon  certain 
"  points  and  articles  under  written :  in  the  which,  as  I  do  now 


II 11- 

owa 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  333 

"  plainly,  and  with  all  mine  heart,  confess  and  declare  mine  Her  sub- 
"  inward  sentence,  belief,  and  judgment,  with  a  due  conformity  ™ls*lon 
"  of  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  realm  ;    so,  minding  for  ever  hand. 
208  "  to  persist  and  continue  in  this  determination,  without  change,  0tho  c' 
"  alteration,  or  variance,  I  do  most  humbly  beseech  the  king's  x'22- 
"  highness,   my    father,    whom    I   have   obstinately   and   in- 
"  obediently  offended  in  the  denial  of  the  same  heretofore, 
"  to  forgive  mine  offences  therein,  and  to  take  me  to  his  most 
"  gracious  mercy. 

:<  First,  I  confess  and  knowledge  the  king's  majesty  to  be 
"  my  sovereign  lord  and  king  in  the  imperial  crown  of  this 
"  realm  of  England ;  and  do  submit  myself  to  his  highness, 
"  and  to  all  and  singular  laws  and  statutes  of  this  realm, 
"  as  becometh  a  true  and  faithful  subject  to  do  ;  which  I  shall 
"  also  obey,  keep,  observe,  advance,  and  maintain,  according  to 
"  my  bounden  duty,  with  all  the  power,  force,  and  qualities, 
"  that  God  hath  endued  me  with,  during  my  life. 

"  Item,  I  do  recognise,  accept,  take,  repute,  and  knowledge, 
"  the  king's  highness  to  be  supreme  head  in  earth,  under 
"  Christ,  of  the  church  of  England ;  and  do  utterly  refuse 
"  the  bishop  of  Rome's  pretended  authority,  power,  and 
"  jurisdiction,  within  this  realm  heretofore  usurped,  according 
"  to  the  laws  and  statutes  made  in  that  behalf,  and  of  all  the 
"  king's  true  subjects  humbly  received,  admitted,  obeyed,  kept, 
ft  and  observed ;  and  also  do  utterly  renounce  and  forsake 
"  all  manner  of  remedy,  interest,  and  advantage  which  I  may 
"  by  any  means  claim  by  the  bishop  of  Rome's  laws,  process, 
"  jurisdiction,  or  sentence,  at  this  present  time,  or  in  any  wise 
"  hereafter,  by  any  manner  of  title,  colour,  mean,  or  case,  that 
"  is,  shall,  or  can  be  devised  for  that  purpose.  "  Mary." 

"  Item,  I  do  freely,  frankly,  and  for  the  discharge  of  my 
"  duty  towards  God,  the  king's  highness,  and  his  laws,  without 
"  other  respect,  recognise  and  knowledge,  that  the  marriage 
"  heretofore  had  between  his  majesty,  and  my  mother,  the  late 
"  princess  dowager,  was,  by  God's  law,  and  man's  law,  inces- 
"  tuous  and  unlawful.  "  Mary.'1 

22  [This  document  does  not  now  Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  458.     It  seems  to 

exist    in    the    Cottonian    Library,  have    been   written    on  Thursday, 

There  is   a   copy  in   the   Harleian  June  15,     There    is    scarcely    any 

Collection,  No.  283.  fol.  in  b.  from  variation  between  the  two  copies.] 
which  it  has  been  printed  in  State 


334 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


She  is  re- 
stored to 
his  favour. 


The  lady 
Elizabeth 
well  used 
by  the 
king  and 
queen. 


Her  letter 
to  the 
queen 
when  not 
four  years 
of  age. 


Upon  this  she  was  again  received  into  favour.  One  circum- 
stance I  shall  add,  that  shews  the  frugality  of  that  time. 
In  the  establishment  that  was  made  for  her  family,  there  was 
only  forty  pounds  a  quarter  assigned  for  her  privy-purse. 
I  have  seen  a  letter  of  hers  to  Cromwell,  at  the  Christmas- 
quarter,  desiring  him  to  let  the  king  know,  that  she  must  be  at 
some  extraordinary  expense  that  season,  that  so  he  might 
increase  her  allowance,  since  the  forty  pounds  would  not  defray 
the  charge  of  that  quarter. 

For  the  lady  Elizabeth,  though  the  king  divested  her  of  the 
title  of  princess  of  Wales,  yet  he  continued  still  to  breed  her 
up  in  the  court  with  all  the  care  and  tenderness  of  a  father. 
And  the  new  queen,  what  from  the  sweetness  of  her  disposition,  209 
and  what  out  of  compliance  with  the  king,  who  loved  her  much, 
was  as  kind  to  her  as  if  she  had  been  her  mother.  Of  which  I 
shall  add  one  pretty  evidence,  though  the  childishness  of  it 
may  be  thought  below  the  gravity  of  a  history ;  yet  by  it  the 
reader  will  see  both  the  kindness  that  the  king  and  queen  had 
for  her,  and  that  they  allowed  her  to  subscribe,  daughter. 
There  are  two  original  letters  of  hers  yet  remaining,  writ  to 
the  queen  when  she  was  with  child  of  king  Edward ;  the  one 
in  Italian,  the  other  in  English  ;  both  writ  in  a  fair  hand, 
the  same  that  she  wrote  all  the  rest  of  her  life.  But  the 
conceits  in  that  writ  in  English  are  so  pretty,  that  it  will  not 
be  unacceptable  to  the  reader  to  see  this  first  blossom  of  so 
great  a  princess,  when  she  was  not  full  four  years  of  age,  she 
being  born  in  September  1533,  and  this  writ  in  July  1537  2S. 

"  Although  your  highness*  letters  be  most  joyful  to  me  in 
"  absence,  yet,  considering  what  pain  it  is  to  you  to  write, 
"  your  grace  being  so  great  with  child,  and  so  sickly,  your 
"  commendation  were  enough  in  my  lord's  letter.  I  much 
"  rejoice  at  your  health,  with  the  well  liking  of  the  country ; 
"  with  my  humble  thanks  that  your  grace  wished  me  with  you 
"  till  I  were  weary  of  that  country.  Your  highness  were  like 
"  to  be  cumbered  if  I  should  not  depart  till  I  were  weary  being 
"  with  you ;  although  it  were  in  the  worst  soil  in  the  world, 
"  your  presence  would  make  it  pleasant.  I  cannot  reprove  my 
"  lord  for  not  doing  your  commendations  in  his  letter,  for 
"  he  did  it ;  and  although  he  had  not,  yet  I  will  not  complain 
"  of  him,  for  that  he  shall  be  diligent  to  give  me  knowledge 
23  [See  part  iii.  p.  133.  for  a  correction  of  this  mistake.] 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1536.)  335 

"  from  time  to  time,  how  his  busy  child  doth ;  and  if  I  were  at 

"  his  birth,  no  doubt  I  would  see  him  beaten,  for  the  trouble 

"  he  has  put  you  to.     Mr.  Denny,  and  my  lady,  with  humble 

"  thanks  prayeth  most  entirely  for  your  grace,  praying  the 

"  Almighty  God  to  send  you  a  most  lucky  deliverance.     And 

"  my  mistress  wisheth  no   less,   giving   your   highness   most 

"  humble  thanks  for  her  commendations.   Writ  with  very  little 

"  leisure,  this  last  day  of  July. 

"  Your  humble  daughter, 

"  Elizabeth." 
But  to  proceed  to  more  serious  matters.  A  parliament  was  A  new 
summoned  to  meet  the  eighth  of  June.  If  full  forty  days  be  called™^ 
necessary  for  a  summons,  then  the  writs  must  have  been  issued 
forth  the  day  before  the  late  queen's  disgrace ;  so  that  it  was 
designed  before  the  justs  at  Greenwich,  and  did  not  flow  from 
any  thing  that  then  appeared.  When  the  parliament  met,  the  Journal. 
lord  chancellor  Audley,  in  his  speech,  told  them,  "  That  when  the  [p™^.]™ 
"  former  parliament  was  dissolved,  the  king  had  no  thoughts  of 
"  summoninp:  a  new  one  so  soon.  But  for  two  reasons  he  had 
"  now  called  them.  The  one  was,  that  he,  finding  himself 
"  subject  to  so  many  infirmities,  and  considering  that  he  was 
210  "  mortal,  (a  rare  thought  in  a  prince,)  he  desired  to  settle  an 
"  apparent  heir  to  the  crown,  in  case  he  should  die  without 
"  children  lawfully  begotten.  The  other  was,  to  repeal  an  act 
"  of  the  former  parliament,  concerning  the  succession  of  the 
"  crown  to  the  issue  of  the  king  by  queen  Anne  Boleyn.  He 
"  desired  them  to  reflect  on  the  great  troubles  and  vexation 
"  the  king  was  involved  in  by  his  first  unlawful  marriage,  and 
"  the  dangers  he  was  in  by  his  second  ;  which  might  well  have 
"  frighted  any  body  from  a  third  marriage.  But  Anne,  and 
"  her  conspirators,  being  put  to  death,  as  they  well  deserved  ; 
"  the  king,  at  the  humble  request  of  the  nobility,  and  not  out 
"  of  any  carnal  concupiscence,  was  pleased  to  marry  again 
"  a  queen,  by  whom  there  were  very  probable  hopes  of  his 
"  having  children  :  therefore  he  recommended  to  them,  to 
"  provide  an  heir  to  the  crown  by  the  king's  direction,  who,  if 
"  the  king  died  without  children  lawfully  begotten,  might  rule 
"  over  them.  He  desired  they  would  pray  God  earnestly, 
"  that  he  would  grant  the  king  issue  of  his  own  body ;  and 
"  return  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  that  preserved  such  a  king 


336  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  to  them  out  of  so  many  imminent  dangers,  who  employed  all 
"  his  care  and  endeavours,  that  he  might  keep  his  whole 
"  people  in  quiet,  peace,  and  perfect  charity,  and  leave  them 
"  so  to  those  that  should  succeed  him." 

But  though  this  was  the  chief  cause  of  calling  the  parliament, 

it  seems  the  ministers  met  with  great  difficulties,  and  therefore 

spent  much  time  in  preparing  men's  minds.     For  the  bill  about 

the  succession  to  the  crown  was  not  brought  into  the  house  of 

[Journals    lords  before  the  thirtieth  day  of  June,  that  the  lord  chancellor 

°  ~"\  '      offered  it  to  the  house.     It  went  through  both  houses  without 

p.  92. J  t  _  o 

The  act  of  any  opposition.     It  contained,  first,  "  A  repeal  of  the  former 

succession.  «  act  Qf  succession    an(j  a  confirmation  of  the  two  sentences 
tCaP-  7-  .  . 

Statutes,  "  of  divorce ;  the  issue  of  both  the  king's  former  marriages 

p.  65S.I       "  being   declared   illegitimate,   and   for   ever   excluded   from 
"  claiming  the  inheritance  of  the  crown,  as  the  king's  lawful 

[Ibid.  p.      "  heirs  by  lineal  descent.     The  attainder  of  queen  Anne  and 
5  -J  ct  hgp  complices  is  confirmed.     Queen  Anne  is  said  to  have 

"  been  inflamed  with  pride  and  carnal  desires  of  her  body ; 
"  and,  having  confederated  herself  with  her  complices,  to  have 
u  committed  divers  treasons,  to  the  danger  of  the  king's  royal 
"  person  ;  (with  other  aggravating  words  ;)  for  which  she  had 
"justly  suffered  death,  and  is  now  attainted  by  act  of  par- 

[Ibid.  p.      "  liament.     And  all  things  that  had  been  said  or  done  against 
''J  "  her,  or  her  daughter,  being  contrary  to  an  act  of  parliament 

[Ibid.  p.      "  then  in  force,  are  pardoned ;    and  the  inheritance  of  the 
59-J  K  crown  js  established  on  the  issue  of  queen  Jane,  whether 

"  male  or  female,  or  the  king's  issue  by  any  other  wife  whom 
"  he  might  marry  afterwards. 

"  But  since  it  was  not  fit  to  declare  to  whom  the  succession 
"  of  the  crown  belonged  after  the  king's  death,  lest  the  person 
"  so  designed  might  be  thereby  enabled  to  raise  trouble 
"  and  commotions  ;  therefore  they,  considering  the  king's  wise 
"  and  excellent  government,  and  confiding  in  the  love  and 
"  affection  which  he  bore  to  his  subjects,  did  give  him  full 
"  power  to  declare  the  succession  to  the  crown  either  by  his 
"  letters  patents  under  the  greal  seal,  or  by  his  last  will,  signed 
"  with  his  hand ;  and  promised  all  faithful  obedience  to  the 

[Ibid.  p.      "  persons  named  by  him.     And  if  any,  so  designed  to  succeed  211 
°'*  "  in  default  of  others,  should  endeavour  to  usurp  upon  those 

"  before  them,  or  to  exclude  them,  they  are  declared  traitors, 


book  in.]  THE    REFORMATION.     (1536.)  337 

"  and  were  to  forfeit  all  the  right  they  might  thereafter  claim 

"  to  the  crown.     And  if  any  should  maintain  the  lawfulness  of 

"  the  former  marriages,  or  that  the  issue  by  them  was  legitimate, 

"  or  refused  to  swear  to  the  king's  issue  by  queen  Jane,  they  [Ibid.  p. 

"  were  also  declared  traitors."  u* 

By  this  act  it  may  appear  how  absolutely  this  king  reigned 
in  England.  Many  questioned  much  the  validity  of  it ;  and 
(as  shall  afterwards  appear)  the  Scots  said,  That  the  succession 
to  the  crown  was  not  within  the  parliament's  power  to  determine 
about  it,  but  must  go  by  inheritance  to  their  king,  in  default  of 
issue  by  this  king.  Yet  by  this  the  king  was  enabled  to  settle 
the  crown  on  his  children,  whom  he  had  now  declared  illegiti- 
mate, by  which  he  brought  them  more  absolutely  to  depend 
upon  himself.  He  neither  made  them  desperate,  nor  gave 
them  any  further  right  than  what  they  were  to  derive  purely 
from  his  own  good  pleasure.  This  did  also  much  pacify  the 
emperor,  since  his  kinswoman  was,  though  not  restored  in 
blood,  yet  put  in  a  capacity  to  succeed  to  the  crown. 

At  this  time  there  came  a  new  proposition  from  Rome,  to  try  The  pope 

if  the  king  would  accommodate  matters  with  the  pope.     Pope  e(j  a  reCon- 

Clement  the  Seventh  died  two  years  before  this,  in  the  year  filiation 

1534,  and  cardinal  Farnese  succeeded  him,  called  pope  Paul  king; 

the  Third.     He  had  before  this  made  one  unsuccessful  attempt  [Herbert; 

p.  451. J 
upon  the  king ;  but,. upon  the  beheading  of  the  bishop  (and 

declared  cardinal)   of  Rochester,   he  had   thundered   a    most 

terrible  sentence  of  deposition  against  the  king,  and  designed 

to  commit  the  execution  of  it  to  the  emperor  :    yet  now,  when 

queen  Catharine  and  queen  Anne,  who  were  the   occasions 

of  the  rupture,  were  both  out  of  the  way,  he  thought  it  was  a 

proper  conjuncture  to  try  if  a  reconciliation  could  be  effected. 

This  he  proposed  to  sir  Gregory  Cassali,  who  was  no  more  the 

king's  ambassador  at  Rome,  but  was  still  his  correspondent 

there.     The  pope  desired  he  would  move  the  king  in  it,  and 

let  him  know,  that  he  had  ever  favoured  his  cause  in  the  former 

pope's  time,  and  though  he  was  forced  to  give  out  a  sentence 

against  him,  yet  he  had  never  any  intention  to  proceed  upon  it 

to  further  extremities. 

But  the  king  was  now  so  entirely  alienated  from  the  court  Butin vain. 

of  Rome,  that,  to  cut  off  all  hopes  of  reconciliation,  he  procured 

two  acts  to  be  passed  in  this  parliament.    The  one  was  for  the 

BURNET,  PART  I.  Z 


338  THE   HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

utter  extinguishing  the  authority  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 
[Journals  It  was  brought  into  the  house  of  lords  on  the  fourth  of  July ; 
pp  ™  s'6>  and  was  read  the  first  time  the  fifth,  and  the  second  time 
98-]  on  the  sixth  of  July,  and  lay  at  the  committee  till  the  twelfth. 

And  on  the  fourteenth  it  was  sent  down  to  the  commons,  who, 
if  there  be  no  mistake  in  the  Journals,  sent  it  up  that  same 
[Ibid.         day  :  they  certainly  made  great  haste,  for  the  parliament  was 
p.  102.]       dissolved  within  four  days. 

[Cap.  io.         "  The  preamble  of  this  first  act  contains  severe  reflections  on 

WIlTd.    "  tne  bisnoP  of  Rome,  (whom  some  called  the  pope,)  who  had 

663.]  "  long  darkened  God's  word,  that  it  might  serve  his  pomp, 

"  glory,  avarice,  ambition,  and  tyranny,  both  upon  the  souls, 

"  bodies,  and  goods  of  all  Christians  ;  excluding  Christ  out  of 

"  the  rule  of  man's  soul,  and  princes  out  of  their  dominions  : 

"  and  had  exacted  in  England  great  sums,  by  dreams,  and  212 

"  vanities,  and  other  superstitious  ways.     Upon  these  reasons 

"  his  usurpations  had  been  by  law  put  down  in  this  nation ; 

"  yet  many  of  his  emissaries  were  still  practising  up  and  down 

"  the  kingdom,  and  persuading  people  to  acknowledge  his  pre- 

"  tended  authority.    Therefore  every  person  so  offending,  after 

"  the  last  of  July  next  to  come,  was  to  incur  the  pains  of  a 

"  praemunire ;   and   all  officers,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical, 

"  were  commanded  to  make  inquiry  about  such  offences,  under 

"  several  penalties." 

Journals  of      On  the  twelfth  of  July  a  bill  was  brought  in  concerning 

o6i  S'  P     privileges  obtained  from  the  see  of  Rome,  and  was  read  the 

first  time :    and  on  the  seventeenth  it  was  agreed  to,  and  sent 

down  to  the  commons,  who  sent  it  up  again  the  next  day. 

[Cap.  16.     It  bears,  that  the  popes  had,  during  their  usurpation,  "  granted 

vol.  iii.  p.    "  manJ  immunities  to  several  bodies  and  societies  in  England, 

672.]  «  which  upon  that  grant  had  been  now  long  in  use :    therefore 

"  all  these  bulls,  breves,  and  every  thing  depending  on  or 

"  flowing  from  them,  were  declared  void  and  of  no  force.     Yet 

"  all  marriages  celebrated  by  virtue  of  them,  that  were  not 

"  otherwise  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  were  declared  good  in 

"  law ;  and  all  consecrations  of  bishops  by  virtue  of  them  were 

"  confirmed.   And  for  the  future,  all  who  enjoyed  any  privileges 

u  by  bulls  were  to  bring  them  into  the  chancery,  or  to  such 

"  persons  as  the  king  should  appoint  for  that  end.     And  the 

"  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  lawfully  to  grant  anew  the 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1536.)  339 

"  effects  contained  in  them,  which  grant  was  to  pass  under  the 
"  great  seal,  and  to  be  of  full  force  in  law." 

This  struck  at  the  abbots'1  rights  :  but  they  were  glad  to 
bear  a  diminution  of  their  greatness,  so  they  might  save  the 
whole,  which  now  lay  at  stake.  By  the  thirteenth  act,  they  [Cap.  13. 
corrected  an  abuse  which  had  come  in,  to  evade  the  force  of  a  ^g*-iP" 
statute  made  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  this  king,  about  the 
residence  of  all  ecclesiastical  persons  in  their  livings.  One 
qualification,  that  did  excuse  from  residence,  was  the  staying  at 
the  uuiversity  for  the  completing  of  their  studies.  Now  it  was 
found,  that  many  dissolute  clergymen  went  and  lived  at  the 
universities,  not  for  their  studies,  but  to  be  excused  from 
serving  their  cures.  So  it  was  enacted,  that  none  above  the 
age  of  forty,  that  were  not  either  heads  of  houses,  or  public 
readers,  should  have  any  exemption  from  their  residence  by 
virtue  of  that  clause  in  the  former  act.  And  those  under 
that  age  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  it,  except  they  were 
present  at  the  lectures,  and  performed  their  exercises  in  the 
schools. 

By  another  act,  there  was  provision  made  against  the  preju-  [Cap.  17. 
dice  the  king's  heirs  might  receive,  before  they  were  of  age,  by  }^\v' 
parliaments  held  in  the  nonage ;    that  whatsoever  acts  were 
made  before  they  were  twenty-four  years  of  age,  they  might, 
at  any  time  of  their  lives  after  that,  repeal  and  annul  by  their 
letters  patents,  which  should  have  equal  force  with  a  repeal  by 
act  of  parliament.     From  these  acts  it  appears,  that  the  king 
was  absolute  master  both  of  the  affections  and  fears  of  his 
subjects,  when,  in  a  new  parliament  called  on  a  sudden,  and  in 
a  session  of  six  weeks,  from  the  eighth  of  June  to  the  eighteenth 
of  July,  acts  of  this  importance  were  passed  without  any  protest 
or  public  opposition. 
213      But,  having  now  opened  the  business  of  the  parliament,  as  The  pro- 
it  relates  to  the  state,  I  must  next  give  an  account  of  the  con-  the  convo-11 
vocation,  which  sat  at  this  time,  and  was  very  busy,  as  appears  cation. 
by  the  Journal  of  the  house  of  lords  ;  in  which  this  is  given  cone"  Hi. 
for  a  reason  of  many  adjournments,  because  the  spiritual  lords  **°3-] 
were  busy  in  the  convocation.     It  sat  down  on  the  ninth  of  of  Lords, 
June,  according  to  Fuller's  extract ;  it  being  the  custom  of  all  n^pj,.  lih 
this  reign  for  that  court  to  meet  two  or  three  days  after  the  v.  p.  206.] 

z2 


340  THE   HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

parliament.      Hither  Cromwell-2   came  as  the  king's  vicar- 
general  :  but  he  was  not  yet  vicegerent 2:).     For  he  sat  next 
the  archbishop  ;  but  when  he  had  that  dignity,  he  sat  above 
him.     Nor  do  I  find  him  styled  in  any  writing  vicegerent  for 
[Herbert,    some  time  after  this ;  though  the  lord  Herbert  says,  he  was 
PiaC6es'the°  ma(le  vicegerent  the  eighteenth  of  July  this  year,  the  same 
date  of  July  day  in  which  the  parliament  was  dissolved. 
man?inei  Latimer,  bishop  of  Worcester,  preached  the  Latin  sermon 

[Fuller,  lib.  on  these  words :  The  children  of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their 
v'  p"  2°7'*  generation  than  the  children  of  light.  He  was  the  most  cele- 
brated preacher  of  that  time  :  the  simplicity  and  plainness  of 
his  matter,  with  a  serious  and  fervent  action  that  accompanied 
it,  being  preferred  to  more  learned  and  elaborate  composures. 
On  the  twenty-first  of  June,  Cromwell  moved  that  they  would 
confirm  the  sentence  of  the  invalidity  of  the  king's  marriage 
with  queen  Anne,  which  was  accordingly  done  by  both  houses 
[Ibid.  p.  of  convocation.  But  certainly  Fuller  was  asleep  when  he 
wrote,  That,  ten  days  before  that,  the  archbishop  had  jiassed 
the  sentence  of  divorce,  on  the  day  before  the  queen  was  be- 
headed. Whereas,  if  he  had  considered  this  more  fully,  he 
must  have  seen  that  the  queen  was  put  to  death  a  month  be- 
fore this,  and  was  divorced  two  days  before  she  died.  Yet, 
with  this  animadversion,  I  must  give  him  my  thanks  for  his 
pains  in  copying  out  of  the  Journals  of  convocation  many  re- 
markable things,  which  had  been  otherwise  irrecoverably  lost, 
[ibid.  p.  On  the  twenty -third  of  June  the  lower  house  of  convocation 

*  sent  to  the  upper  house  a  collection  of  many  opinions  that 

were  then  in  the  realm ;  which,  as  they  thought,  were  abuses 
and  errors  worthy  of  special  reformation.  But  they  began 
this  representation  with  a  protestation,  "  That  they  intended 
"  not  to  do  or  speak  any  thing  which  might  be  unpleasant  to 
"  the  king ;  whom  they  acknowledged  their  supreme  head,  and 

22  [Cromwell  took  his  place  as  (which  we  have  upon  our  registers, 
representative  of  the  king,  on  the  and  otherwise  MS.)  dated  October 
ground  of  his  being  supreme  head  22,  1535,  Cromwell  is  styled  Vice- 
of  the  church  of  England,  in  the  gerent  that  year  ;  and  in  the  writ 
second  session,  June  16.  Wilkins,  of  summons,  1539  (m  Dugdale),  he 
Cone.  hi.  p.  803.]  is   styled  Vicarius    Generalis.      So 

23  In  a  public  instrument  in  Ful-  that  these  two  titles  seem  to  have 
ler's  History  of  Cambridge,  p.  109,  been  used  promiscuously.  [B.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  341 

"  were  resolved  to  obey  his  commands,  renouncing  the  pope's 
"  usurped  authority,  with  all  his  laws  and  inventions,  now 
"  extinguished  and  abolished ;  and  did  addict  themselves  to 
"  almighty  God  and  his  laws,  and  unto  the  king  and  the  laws 
"  made  within  this  kingdom." 

There  are  sixty-seven  opinions  set  down,  and  are  either  the  [Ibid.  pp. 
tenets  of  the  old  Lollards,  or  the  new  reformers,  together  with  2°9>  sqq'J 
the  anabaptists1  opinions.  Besides  all  which,  they  complained 
of  many  unsavoury  and  indiscreet  expressions,  which  were 
either  feigned  on  design  to  disgrace  the  new  preachers,  or 
were  perhaps  the  extravagant  reflections  of  some  illiterate  and 
injudicious  persons ;  who  are  apt  upon  all  occasions,  by  their 
heat  and  folly,  rather  to  prejudice  than  advance  their  party ; 
and  affect  some  petulant  jeers,  which  they  think  witty,  and 
are  perhaps  well  entertained  by  some  others,  who,  though 
214  they  are  more  judicious  themselves,  yet,  imagining  that  such 
jests  on  the  contrary  opinions  will  take  with  the  people,  do 
give  them  too  much  encouragement.  Many  of  these  jests 
about  confession,  praying  to  saints,  holy-water,  and  the  other 
ceremonies  of  the  church,  were  complained  of.  And  the  last 
articles  contained  sharp  reflections  on  some  of  the  bishops,  as 
if  they  had  been  Avanting  in  their  duty  to  suppress  such  things. 
This  was  clearly  levelled  at  Cranmer,  Latimer,  and  Shaxton, 
who  were  noted  as  the  great  promoters  of  these  opinions. 
The  first  did  it  prudently  and  solidly :  the  second  zealously 
and  simply  :  and  the  third  with  much  indiscreet  pride  and 
vanity.  But  now  that  the  queen  was  gone,  who  had  either 
raised  or  supported  them,  their  enemies  hoped  to  have  advan- 
tages against  them,  and  to  lay  the  growth  of  these  opinions  to 
their  charge.  But  this  whole  project  failed,  and  Cranmer  had 
as  much  of  the  king's  favour  as  ever;  for,  instead  of  that 
which  they  had  projected,  Cromwell,  by  the  king's  order, 
coming  to  the  convocation,  declared  to  them,  that  it  was  the 
king's  pleasure  that  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  church 
should  be  reformed  by  the  rules  of  scripture,  and  that  nothing 
was  to  be  maintained  which  did  not  rest  on  that  authority ; 
for  it  was  absurd,  since  that  was  acknowledged  to  contain  the 
laws  of  religion,  that  recourse  should  rather  be  had  to  glosses, 
or  the  decrees  of  popes,  than  to  these.  There  was  at  that 
time  one  Alexander  Alesse,  a  Scotchman,  much  esteemed  for 


842  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

his  learning  and  piety,  whom  Cranmer  entertained  at  Lambeth. 

Antiq.Brit.  Him  Cromwell  brought  with  him  to  the  convocation'24,  and 

Graiim        desired  him  to  deliver  his  opinion  about  the  sacraments.     He 

[p.  496.]      enlarged  himself  much  to  convince  them,  that  only  baptism 

and  the  Lord's  supper  were  instituted  by  Christ. 

Stokesley,  bishop  of  London,  answered  him  in  a  long  dis- 
course, in  which  he  shewed  he  was  better  acquainted  with  the 
learning  of  the  schools,  and  the  canon  law,  than  with  the 
gospel  :  he  was  seconded  by  the  archbishop  of  York,  and 
others  of  that  party. 

But  Cranmer,  in  a  long  and  learned  speech,  shewed  how 
useless  these  niceties  of  the  schools  were,  and  of  how  little 
authority  they  ought  to  be;  and  discoursed  largely  of  the 
authority  of  the  scriptures,  of  the  use  of  the  sacraments,  of 
the  uncertainty  of  tradition,  and  of  the  corruption  which  the 
monks  and  friars  had  brought  into  the  Christian  doctrine.  He 
was  vigorously  seconded  by  the  bishop  of  Hereford,  who  told 
them,  the  world  would  be  no  longer  deceived  with  such  sophis- 
ticated stuff  as  the  clergy  had  formerly  vented :  the  laity  were 
now  in  all  nations  studying  the  scriptures,  and  that  not  only 
in  the  vulgar  translations,  but  in  the  original  tongues ;  and 
therefore  it  was  a  vain  imagination  to  think  they  would  be  any 
longer  governed  by  those  arts,  which  in  the  former  ages  of 
ignorance  had  been  so  effectual.  Not  many  days  after  this, 
there  were  several  articles  brought  into  the  upper  house  of 
convocation,  devised  by  the  king  himself,  about  which  there 
were  great  debates  among  them  ;  the  two  archbishops  heading 
two  parties :  Cranmer  was  for  a  reformation,  and  with  him 
joined  Thomas  Goodrich,  bishop  of  Ely,  Shaxton  of  Sarum, 

24  An  account  of  this  conference  all  the  bishops  gathered  together  — 

is    published     by    this    Alexander  unto  whom  all  the  bishops  and  pre- 

Alesse ;  by  him  in  Latin,  translated  lates  did  rise  up  and  did  obedience 

into  English  by  Edmund  Alen ;  and  as  to  their  Vicar  General— and  he 

he  is  there  styled  Alex.  Alane,  Scot,  sat  him  down  in  the  highest  place 

He  was  sent  for  into  England  by  — then  follows   an  account  of  the 

the  lord  Cromwell  and  the  Arch-  debate,  and  how  the  bishops  were 

bishop — sent  to  Cambridge — driven  divided — but  I  think  he  places  this 

thence — withdrew  to  London,  where  meeting  (I  have  not  the  book  by 

he  studied  and  practised  physic  cer-  me)  in  the  year  1537.     The  book  is 

tain  years — met  by  chance  with  the  without  date,  so  it  does  not  appear 

lord  Cromwell — who  took  him  with  when  it  was  printed.  [B.] 
him  to  Westminster,  where  he  found 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.) 

Latimer  of  Worcester,  Fox  of  Hereford,  Hilsey  of  Rochester, 
and  Barlow  of  St.  David's. 

But  Lee,  archbishop  of  York,  was  a  known  favourer  of  the 
pope's  interests :  which  as  it  first  appeared  in  his  scrupling  so 
215  much,  with  the  whole  convocation  of  York,  the  acknowledging 
the  king  to  be  supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England ;  so  he 
had  since  discovered  it  on  all  occasions,  in  which  he  durst  do 
it  without  the  fear  of  losing  the  king's  favour :  so  he,  and 
Stokesley,  bishop  of  London,  Tunstall  of  Durham,  Gardiner 
of  Winchester,  Longland  of  Lincoln,  Sherburn  of  Chichester, 
Nix  of  Norwich,  and  Kite  of  Carlisle,  had  been  still  against  all 
changes.  But  the  king  discovered,  that  those  did  in  their 
hearts  love  the  papal  authority,  though  Gardiner  dissembled 
it  most  artificially.  Sherburn,  bishop  of  Chichester,  upon  what 
inducement  I  cannot  understand,  resigned  his  bishopric,  which 
was  given  to  Richard  Sampson25,  dean  of  the  chapel;  a  pen- 
sion of  four  hundred  pounds  being  reserved  to  Sherburn  for 
his  life,  which  was  confirmed  by  an  act  of  this  parliament.  [Cap.  23. 
Nix  of  Norwich  had  also  offended  the  king  signally,  by  some  voa  ^jes' 
correspondence  with  Rome,  and  was  kept  long  in  the  Marshal-  679.] 
sea,  and  was  convicted  and  found  in  a  praemunire :  the  king, 
considering  his  great  age,  had  upon  his  humble  submission 
discharged  him  out  of  prison,  and  pardoned  him.  But  he  died 
the  former  year26,  though  Fuller,  in  his  slight  way,  makes  [Fuller, lib. 
him  sit  in  this  convocation  ;  for  by  the  seventeenth  act  of  the  v-  P-  2I2-1 

.  .        Act.  1 7. 

last  parliament  it  appears  that  the  bishopric  of  Norwich  being  2»regni. 
vacant,  the  king  had  recommended  William  -7,  abbot  of  St.  [Cap.  45- 
Bennet's  to  it ;  but  took  into  his  own  hands  all  the  lands  and  vol.  iii.  p. 
manors  of  the  bishopric,  and  gave  the  bishop  several  of  the       J 
priories  in  Norfolk  in  exchange,  which  was  confirmed  in  par- 
liament. 

I  shall  next  give  a  short  abstract  of  the  articles  about  reli- 
gion, which  were,  after  much  consultation  and  long  debating, 
agreed  to. 

"  First,  All  bishops  and  preachers  must  instruct  the  people  Articles 
"  to  believe  the  whole  Bible  and  the  three  Creeds ;  that  made  JfJJJ1^. 

25    [Richard    Sampson,    LL.D.,  2fi  [The  date  of  his  death  is  Jan. 

was  consecrated  June  n,  1536,  and  14,  1536.] 

Sherburn  died  Aug.  21  in  the  same  27  [William  Rugge,  alias  Repps, 

year.]  D.D.,  was  consecrated  July  2.] 


'3U  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

gion,  print- </ by  the  Apostles,  the  Nicerie,  and  the  Athanasian  ;  and  in- 
ert by  Fnl-  J  ,,     i  •  ,.  ,  i-i 

ler,  [lib.  v.      terpret  all  things  according  to  them,  and  in  the  very  same 

p.  2i$.]       ic  wor(jSj  an(j  condemn  all  heresies  contrary  to  them,  particu- 
"  larly  those  condemned  hy  the  first  four  general  councils. 

[Ibid.  p.  "  Secondly,  of  baptism.      The  people  must  be  instructed, 

"  that  it  is  a  sacrament  instituted  by  Christ  for  the  remission 
"  of  sins,  without  which  none  could  attain  everlasting  life  :  and 
"  that,  not  only  those  of  full  age,  but  infants,  may  and  must 
"  be  baptized  for  the  pardon  of  original  sin,  and  obtaining  the 
"  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  which  they  became  the  sons  of 
"  God.  That  none  baptized  ought  to  be  baptized  again.  That 
"  the  opinions  of  the  Anabaptists  and  Pelagians  were  detest- 
"  able  heresies,  and  that  those  of  ripe  age,  who  desired  bap- 
"  tism,  must  with  it  join  repentance  and  contrition  for  their 
"  sins,  with  a  firm  belief  of  the  articles  of  the  faith. 

[Ibid.  p.  "  Thirdly,  concerning  penance.     They  were  to  instruct  the 

J  "  people,  that  it  was  instituted  by  Christ,  and  was  absolutely 

"  necessary  to  salvation.  That  it  consisted  of  contrition,  con- 
"  fession,  and  amendment  of  life  ;  with  exterior  works  of 
"  charity,  which  were  the  worthy  fruits  of  penance.  For  con- 
"  trition,  it  was  an  inward  shame  and  sorrow  for  sin,  because 
"  it  is  an  offence  to  God,  which  provokes  his  displeasure.  To 
"  this  must  be  joined  a  faith  of  the  mercy  and  goodness  of 
"  God,  whereby  the  penitent  must  hope,  that  God  will  forgive 
"  him,  and  repute  him  justified,  and  of  the  number  of  his  elect 
"  children,  not  for  the  worthiness  of  any  merit  or  work  done 
"  by  him,  but  for  the  only  merits  of  the  blood  and  passion  of  216 
"  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  That  this  faith  is  got  and  con- 
"  firmed  by  the  application  of  the  promises  of  the  gospel,  and 
"  the  use  of  the  sacraments  :  and  for  that  end,  confession  to  a 
"  priest  is  necessary,  if  it  may  be  had,  whose  absolution  was 
"  instituted  by  Christ,  to  apply  the  promises  of  God's  grace  to 
"  the  penitent ;  therefore  the  people  were  to  be  taught,  that 
"  the  absolution  is  spoken  by  an  authority  given  by  Christ  in 
"  the  gospel  to- the  priest,  and  must  be  believed,  as  if  it  were 
"  spoken  by  God  himself,  according  to  our  Saviour's  words ; 
"  and  therefore  none  were  to  condemn  auricular  confession, 
"  but  use  it  for  the  comfort  of  their  consciences.  The  people 
"  were  also  to  be  instructed,  that  though  God  pardoned  sin 
"  only  for  the  satisfaction  of  Christ;  yet  they  must  bring  forth 


book  m.J  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  345 

"  the  fruits  of  penance,  prayer,  fasting,  alms-deeds,  with  resti- 
"  tution  and  satisfaction  for  wrongs  done  to  others,  with  other 
"  works  of  mercy  and  charity,  and  obedience  to  God's  com- 
"  mandments,  else  they  could  not  be  saved  ;  and  that,^  by 
"  doing  these,  they  should  both  obtain  everlasting  life,  and 
"  mitigation  of  their  afflictions  in  this  present  life,  according  to 
"  the  scriptures. 

"  Fourthly,  as  touching  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  people  [ibid.  p. 
"  were  to  be  instructed,  that  under  the  forms  of  bread  and  2I9-1 
"  wine,  there  was  truly  and  substantially  given  the  very  same 
"  body  of  Christ  that  was  born  of  the  ATirgin  Mary ;  and  there- 
"  fore  it  was  to  be  received  with  all  reverence,  every  one  duly 
"  examining  himself,  according  to  the  words  of  St.  Paul. 

"  Fifthly,  the  people  were  to  be  instructed,  that  justification  [ibid.  p. 
"  signifieth  the  remission  of  sins,  and  acceptation  into  the  22°^ 
"  favour  of  God ;  that  is  to  say,  a  perfect  renovation  in  Christ. 
"  To  the  attaining  which,  they  were  to  have  contrition,  faith, 
"  charity,  which  were  both  to  concur  in  it,  and  follow  it ;  and 
"  that  the  good  works  necessary  to  salvation  were  not  only 
"  outward  civil  works,  but  the  inward  motions  and  graces  of 
"  God's  holy  Spirit,  to  dread,  fear,  and  love  him,  to  have  firm 
"  confidence  in  God,  to  call  upon  him,  and  to  have  patience  in 
"  all  adversities,  to  hate  sin,  and  have  purposes  and  wills  not 
"  to  sin  again ;  with  such  other  motions  and  virtues  consenting 
"  and  agreeable  to  the  law  of  God. 

"  The  other  articles  were  about  the  ceremonies  of  the  church,  [ibid.  p. 
"  First,  of  images.  The  people  were  to  be  instructed,  that  221^ 
"  the  use  of  them  was  warranted  by  the  scriptures,  and  that 
"  they  served  to  represent  to  them  good  examples,  and  to  stir 
"  up  devotion ;  and  therefore  it  was  meet  that  they  should 
"  stand  in  the  churches.  But,  that  the  people  might  not  fall 
"  into  such  superstition  as  it  was  thought  they  had  done  in 
"  time  past,  they  were  to  be  taught  to  reform  such  abuses, 
"  lest  idolatry  might  ensue ;  and  that  in  censing,  kneeling, 
"  offering,  or  worshipping  them,  the  people  were  to  be  in- 
"  structed  not  to  do  it  to  the  image,  but  to  God  and  his 
"  honour. 

"  Secondly,  for  the  honouring  of  saints.  Thoy  were  not  to 
"  think  to  attain  these  things  at  their  hands,  which  were  only 
"  obtained  of  God  ;    but  that  they  were  to  honour  them  as 


346  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  persons  now  in  glory,  to  praise  God  for  them,  and  imitate 
"  their  virtues,  and  not  fear  to  die  for  the  truth,  as  many  of 
"  them  had  done. 

"  Thirdly,  for  praying  to  saints.  The  people  were  to  be 
"  taught,  that  it  was  good  to  pray  to  them,  to  pray  for  and  217 
"  with  us.  And,  to  correct  all  superstitious  abuses  in  this 
"  matter,  they  were  to  keep  the  days  appointed  by  the  church 
"  for  their  memories,  unless  the  king  should  lessen  the  number 
"  of  them,  which  if  he  did,  it  was  to  be  obeyed. 
[Ibid.  p.  "  Fourthly,  of  ceremonies.     The  people  were  to  be  taught, 

"•  that  they  were  not  to  be  condemned  and  cast  away,  but  to 
"  be  kept  as  good  and  laudable,  having  mystical  significations 
"  in  them,  and  being  useful  to  lift  up  our  minds  to  God.  Such 
"  were,  the  vestments  in  the  worship  of  God ;  the  sprinkling 
"  holy  water,  to  put  us  in  mind  of  our  baptism  and  the  blood 
"  of  Christ ;  giving  holy  bread,  in  sign  of  our  union  in  Christ, 
"  and  to  remember  us  of  the  sacrament ;  bearing  candles  on 
"  Candlemas-day,  in  remembrance  that  Christ  was  the  spiritual 
"light;  giving  ashes  on  Ash -Wednesday,  to  put  us  in  mind 
"  of  penance  and  of  our  mortality  ;  bearing  palms  on  Palm- 
"  Sunday,  to  shew  our  desire  to  receive  Christ  in  our  hearts, 
"  as  he  entered  into  Jerusalem ;  creeping  to  the  cross  on  Good- 
"  Friday,  and  kissing  it  in  memory  of  his  death,  with  the 
"  setting  up  the  sepulchre  on  that  day ;  the  hallowing  the 
"  font,  and  other  exorcisms  and  benedictions. 
[Ibid.  p.  "  And  lastly,  as  to  purgatory,  they  were  to  declare  it  good 

223'-'  "  and  charitable  to  pray  for  the  souls  departed,  which  was 

"  said  to  have  continued  in  the  church  from  the  beginning  : 
"  and  therefore  the  people  were  to  be  instructed,  that  it  con- 
"  sisted  well  with  the  due  order  of  charity  to  pray  for  them, 
"  and  to  make  others  pray  for  them,  in  masses  and  exequies, 
"  and  to  give  alms  to  them  for  that  end.  But  since  the  place 
"  they  were  in,  and  the  pains  they  suffered,  were  uncertain 
"  by  the  scripture,  we  ought  to  remit  them  wholly  to  God's 
"  mercy :  therefore  all  these  abuses  were  to  be  put  away, 
"  which,  under  the  pretence  of  purgatory,  had  been  advanced, 
"  as  if  the  pope's  pardons  did  deliver  souls  out  of  it,  or  masses 
"  said  in  certain  places,  or  before  certain  images,  had  such 
"  efficiency ;   with  other  such-like  abuses." 

These  articles,  being  thus  conceived,  and  in  several  places 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1536.)  347 

corrected  and  tempered  by  the  king's  own  hand,  were  signed 
by  Cromwell  and  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  seventeen 
other  bishops,  forty  abbots  and  priors,  and  fifty  archdeacons 
and  proctors  of  the  lower  house  of  convocation.  Among  whom, 
Polydore  Vergil  and  Peter  Vannes  signed  with  the  rest ;  as 
appears  by  the  original  yet  extant. 

*  *  The  Articles  of  Religion,  of  which  an  abstract  is  there 
set  down,  are  indeed  published  by  Fuller;    but  he  saw  not 
the  original,  with  all  the  subscriptions  to  it,  which  I  have  had 
in  my  hands ;    and  therefore  I  have  put  it  in  the  Collection,  Collect. 
with  three  other  papers,  which  were  soon  after  offered  to  the  Numb.  1' 
king  by  Cranmer. 

The  one  is  in  the  form  of  fifteen  queries,  concerning  some  Collect. 
abuses  by  which  the  people  had  been  deceived ;  as  namely,  by  j^^^.  2' 
these  doctrines :  that  Avithout  contrition  sinners  may  be  recon- 
ciled to  God ;  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  priest  to  pardon  or 
not  to  pardon  sin  at  his  pleasure  ;  and  that  God's  pardon  cannot 
be  attained  without  priestly  absolution.  Also  he  complained, 
that  the  people  trusted  to  outward  ceremonies ;  and  their 
curates,  for  their  own  gain,  encouraged  them  in  it.  It  was 
observed,  that  the  opinion  of  clergymen's  being  exempted  from 
the  secular  judge  was  ill  grounded  ;  that  bishops  did  ordain 
without  due  care  and  trial ;  that  the  dignified  clergy  misapplied 
their  revenues,  did  not  follow  their  first  institution,  and  did 
not  reside  upon  their  benefices. 

And,  in  fine,  he  moves,  that  the  four  sacraments,  which 
had  been  left  undetermined  by  the  former  articles,  might  be 
examined  :  the  outward  signs  and  actions,  the  promises  made 
upon  them,  and  the  efficacy  that  was  in  them,  being  well  con- 
sidered. 

The  second  paper  consists  of  two  resolutions  made  con-  Collect. 
cerning  confirmation  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  ^^llT  t' 
Stokesley  bishop  of  London ;  (by  which  I  perceive,  the  way  of 
examining  matters,  by  giving  out  of  questions  to  bishops  and 
divines,  was  sooner  practised  than  when  I  first  took  notice  of 
it,  page  286.)  There  are  several  other  papers  concerning 
confirmation,  but  these  are  only  subscribed  ;  and  the  rest  do 
generally  follow  these  two  prelates,  who  were  then  the  heads 
of  two  different  parties.  The  archbishop  went  on  this  ground ; 
that  all  things  were  to  be  tried  by  the  scripture :  but  Stokes- 


348 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Collect. 
Addenda, 
Numb.  4. 


ley,  and  almost  the  whole  clergy,  were  for  receiving  the  tra- 
dition of  the  church,  as  not  much  inferior  to  the  scriptures; 
which  he  asserts  in  his  subscription. 

The  third  paper  was  offered  to  the  king  by  Cranmer,  to 
persuade  him  to  proceed  to  a  further  reformation  ;  that  things 
might  be  long  and  well  considered  before  they  were  deter- 
mined ;  that  nothing  might  be  declared  a  part  of  God's  faith 
without  good  proofs  from  scripture,  the  departing  from  which 
rule  had  been  the  occasion  of  all  the  errors  that  had  been  in 
the  church ;  that  now  men  would  not  be  led  as  they  had  been, 
but  would  examine  matters  ;  that  many  things  were  now  ac- 
knowledged to  be  truths,  such  as  the  unlawfulness  of  the  pope's 
usurped  power,  for  which  many  had  formerly  suffered  death. 
Whereupon  he  desires,  that  some  points  might  be  examined 
by  scripture  :  as,  whether  there  is  a  purgatory ;  whether  de- 
parted souls  ought  to  be  invocated ;  whether  tradition  ought 
to  be  believed ;  whether  there  be  any  satisfaction  besides  the 
satisfaction  of  Christ ;  whether  freewill  may  dispose  itself  to 
grace ;  and  whether  images  ought  to  be  kissed,  or  used  to  any 
other  end  but  as  representations  of  a  piece  of  history.  In  all 
these  he  desired  the  king  would  suspend  his  judgment;  and, 
in  particular,  that  he  would  not  determine  against  the  lawful- 
ness of  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  but  would  for  some  time 
silence  both  parties.  He  also  proposed,  that  this  point  might, 
by  order  from  the  king,  be  examined  in  the  universities  before 
indifferent  judges  :  that  all  the  arguments  against  it  might -be 
given  to  the  defenders  twelve  days  before  the  public  disputa- 
tion ;  and  he  offered,  that,  if  those  who  should  defend  the 
lawfulness  of  priests'  marriage  were  in  the  opinion  of  indifferent 
judges  overcome,  they  should  willingly  suffer  death  for  it ;  but 
if  otherwise,  all  they  desired  was,  that  in  that  point  the  king 
might  leave  them  in  the  liberty  to  which  the  word  of  God  left 
them  ** 

They  being  tendered  to  the  king,  he  confirmed  them,  and 
Published  ordered  them  to  be  published  with  a  preface  in  his  name.  "  It 
by  the        «  js  sa}(j  -m  fae  preface,  that  he,  accounting  it  the  chief  part 

king  s  au-  .  l  ~  L 

thority :  "  oi  his  charge  that  the  word  and  commandments  of  God 
"  should  be  believed  and  observed,  and  to  maintain  unity  and 
"  concord  in  opinion ;  and  understanding,  to  his  great  regret, 
"  that  there  was  great  diversity  of  opinion  arisen  among  his 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.^   (1536.)  349 

"  subjects,  both  about  articles  of  faith  and  ceremonies,  had  in 
"  his  own  person  taken  great  pains  and  study  about  these 
"  things,  and  had  ordered  also  the  bishops,  and  other  learned 
"  men  of  the  clergy,  to  examine  them;  who,  after  long  deli- 
"  beration,  had  concluded  on  the  most  special  points,  which 
"  the  king  thought  proceeded  from  a  good,  right,  and  true 
"  judgment,  according  to  the  laws  of  God ;  these  would  also 
"  be  profitable  for  establishing  unity  in  the  church  of  England : 
218  "  therefore  he  had  ordered  them  to  be  published,  requiring 
"  all  to  accept  of  them,  praying  God  so  to  illuminate  their 
"  hearts,  that  they  might  have  no  less  zeal  and  love  to  unity 
"  and  concord  in  reading  them,  than  he  had  in  making  them 
"  to  be  devised,  set  forth,  and  published ;  which  good  accept- 
"  ance  should  encourage  him  to  take  further  pains  for  the 
"  future,  as  should  be  most  for  the  honour  of  God,  and  the 
"  profit  and  the  quietness  of  his  subjects.'''' 

This  being  published,  occasioned  great  variety  of  censures.  And  vari- 
Those  that  desired  reformation  were  glad  to  see  so  great  a  gured.0611 
step  once  made,  and  did  not  doubt  but  this  would  make  way 
for  further  changes.  They  rejoiced  to  see  the  scriptures  and 
the  ancient  creeds  made  the  standards  of  the  faith,  without 
mentioning  tradition  or  the  decrees  of  the  church.  Then  the 
foundation  of  Christian  faith  was  truly  stated,  and  the  terms 
of  the  covenant  between  God  and  man  in  Christ  were  rightly 
opened,  without  the  niceties  of  the  schools  of  either  side.  Im- 
mediate worship  of  images  and  saints  was  also  removed,  and 
purgatory  was  declared  uncertain  by  the  scripture.  These 
were  great  advantages  to  them  ;  but  the  establishing  the  neces- 
sity of  auricular  confession,  the  corporal  presence  in  the  sacra- 
ment, the  keeping  up  and  doing  reverence  to  images,  and  the 
praying  to  saints,  did  allay  their  joy ;  yet  they  still  counted  it 
a  victory  to  have  things  brought  under  debate,  and  to  have 
some  grosser  abuses  taken  away. 

The  other  party  were  unspeakably  troubled.  Four  sacra- 
ments were  passed  over,  which  would  encourage  ill-affected 
people  to  neglect  them.  The  gainful  trade  by  the  belief  of 
purgatory  was  put  down ;  for  though  it  was  said  to  be  good  to 
give  alms  for  praying  for  the  dead,  yet  since  both  the  dreadful 
stories  of  the  miseries  of  purgatory,  and  the  certainty  of  re- 
deeming souls  out  of  them  by  masses,  were  made  doubtful,  the 


350  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

people's  charity  and  bounty  that  way  would  soon  abate.  And, 
in  a  word,  the  bringing  matters  under  dispute  was  a  great 
mortification  to  them ;  for  all  concluded,  that  this  was  but  a 
preamble  to  what  they  might  expect  afterwards. 

When  these  things  were  seen  beyond  sea,  the  papal  party 
made  everywhere  great  use  of  it,  to  shew  the  necessity  of 
adhering  to  the  pope  ;  since  the  king  of  England,  though, 
when  he  broke  off  from  his  obedience  to  the  apostolic  see,  he 
pretended  he  would  maintain  the  catholic  faith  entire,  yet  was 
now  making  great  changes  in  it.  But  others,  that  were  more 
moderate,  acknowledged  that  there  was  great  temper  and  pru- 
dence in  contriving  these  articles.  And  it  seems  the  emperor, 
and  the  more  learned  divines  about  him,  both  approved  of  the 
precedent,  and  liked  the  particulars  so  well,  that  not  many 
years  after,  the  emperor  published  a  work  not  unlike  this, 
called  The  Interim ;  because  it  was  to  be  in  force  in  that  in- 
terim, till  all  things  were  more  fully  debated  and  determined 
by  a  general  council,  which  in  many  particulars  agreed  with 
these  articles.  Yet  some  stricter  persons  censured  this  work 
much,  as  being  a  political  daubing,  in  which,  they  said,  there 
was  more  pains  taken  to  gratify  persons,  and  serve  particular 
ends,  than  to  assert  truth  in  a  free  and  unbiassed  way,  such  as 
became  divines.  This  was  again  excused  ;  and  it  was  said,  that 
all  things  could  not  be  attained  on  a  sudden :  that  some  of  the  21 9 
bishops  and  divines,  who  afterwards  arrived  at  a  clearer  under- 
standing of  some  matters,  were  not  then  so  fully  convinced 
about  them ;  and  so  it  was  their  ignorance,  and  not  their  cow- 
ardice or  policy,  that  made  them  compliant  in  some  things. 
Besides,  it  was  said,  that  as  our  Saviour  did  not  reveal  all 
things  to  his  disciples  till  they  were  able  to  bear  them  ;  and  as 
the  apostles  did  not  of  a  sudden  abolish  all  the  rites  of  Juda- 
ism, but  for  some  time,  to  gain  the  Jews,  complied  with  them, 
and  went  to  the  temple,  and  offered  sacrifices  ;  so  the  people 
were  not  to  be  over-driven  in  this  change.  The  clergy  must 
be  brought  out  of  their  ignorance  by  degrees,  and  then  the 
people  were  to  be  better  instructed :  but  to  drive  furiously, 
and  do  all  at  once,  might  have  spoiled  the  whole  design,  and 
totally  alienated  those  who  were  to  be  drawn  on  by  degrees ; 
it  might  have  also  much  endangered  the  peace  of  the  nation, 
the  people  being  much  disposed,  by  the  practices  of  the  friars, 


book  hi.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  351 

to  rise  in  arms ;  therefore  these  slow  steps  were  thought  the 
surer  and  better  method. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  convocation,  there  was  another  writ-  The  convo- 
ing  brought  in  by  Fox,  bishop  of  Hereford,  occasioned  by  the  ^re" 
summons  for  a  general  council  to  sit  at  Mantua,  to  which  the  against  the 
pope  had  cited  the  king  to  appear.     The  king  had  made  his  called  by 
appeal  from  the  pope  to  a  general  council ;  but  there  was  no  the  P°Pe- 
reason  to  expect  any  justice  in  an  assembly  so  constituted  as 
this  was  like  to  be.     Therefore  it  was  thought  fit  to  publish 
somewhat  of  the  reasons  why  the  king  could  not  submit  his 
matter  to  the  decision  of  such  a  council  as  was  then  intended. 
And   it  was  moved,  that  the   convocation  should  give  their 
sense  of  it. 

The  substance  of  their  answer  (which  the  reader  will  find  in 
the  Collection)  was,  "  That  as  nothing  was  better  instituted  by  Collect. 
"  the  ancient  fathers,  for  the  establishment  of  the  faith,  the  Numb-  5- 
"  extirpation  of  heresies,  the  healing  of  schisms,  and  the  unity 
"  of  the  Christian  church,  than  general  councils  gathered  in 
"  the  Holy  Ghost,  duly  called  to  an  indifferent  place,  with 
"  other  necessary  requisites ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing 
"  could  produce  more  pestiferous  effects,  than  a  general  council 
"  called  upon  private  malice,  or  ambition,  or  other  carnal  re- 
"  spects :  which  Gregory  Nazianzen  so  well  observed  in  his 
"  time,  that  he  thought  all  assemblies  of  bishops  were  to  be. 
"  eschewed  ;  for  he  never  saw  good  come  of  any  of  them,  and 
"  they  had  increased,  rather  than  healed,  the  distempers  of 
"  the  church.  For  the  appetite  of  vainglory,  and  a  conten- 
"  tious  humour,  bore  down  reason ;  therefore  they  thought 
"  Christian  princes  ought  to  employ  all  their  endeavours  to 
"  prevent  so  great  a  mischief.  And  it  was  to  be  considered, 
"  first,  Who  had  authority  to  call  one.  Secondly,  If  the  rea- 
"  sons  for  calling  one  were  weighty.  Thirdly,  Who  should  be 
"  the  judges.  Fourthly,  What  should  be  the  manner  of  pro- 
"  ceeding.  Fifthly,  What  things  should  be  treated  of  in  it. 
"  And  as  to  the  first  of  these,  they  thought  neither  the  pope, 
"  nor  any  one  prince,  of  what  dignity  soever,  had  authority  to 
"  call  one,  without  the  consent  of  all  other  Christian  princes, 
"  especially  such  as  had  entire  and  supreme  government  over 
"  all  their  subjects.11  This  was  signed,  on  the  twentieth  of 
220  July,  by  Cromwell,  and  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with 


352 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[part  I. 


Fox,  [vol. 
ii.  pp.  310 
sqq.] 


fourteen  bishops,  and  forty  abbots,  priors,  and  clerks  of  the 
convocation  of  Canterbury.      Whether  this  and   the  former 
articles  were  also  signed  by  the  convocation  of  the  province  of 
York,  does  not  appear  by  any  record ;  but  that  I  think  is  not 
The  king    to   be  doubted.     This  being   obtained,  the  king  published  a 
his  reasons  ^onS  an<l  sharp  protestation-8  against  the   council  now  sum- 
against  it.   moned  to  Mantua.     In  which  he  shews,  that  the  pope  had  no 
power  to  call  one ;  "  For  as  it  was  done  by  the  emperors  of 
old ;    so  it  pertained  to  Christian   princes   now.     That  the 
pope  had  no  jurisdiction  in  England,  and  so  could  summon 
none  of  this  nation  to  come  to  any  such  meeting.     That  the 
place  was  neither  safe  nor  proper.     That  nothing  could  be 
done  in  a  council  to  any  purpose,  if  the  pope  sat  judge  in 
chief  in  it ;  since  one  of  the  true  ends,  why  a  council  was  to 
be  desired,  was  to  reduce  his  power  within  its  old  limits.     A 
free  general  council  was  that  which  he  much  desired  ;  but 
he  was  sure  this  could  not  be  such  :  and  the  present  distrac- 
tions of  Christendom,  and  the  wars  between  the  emperor  and 
the  French  king,  shewed  this  was  no  proper  time  for  one. 
The  pope,  who  had  long  refused  or  delayed  to  call  one,  did 
now  choose  this  conjuncture  of  affairs,  knowing  that  few 
Avould  come  to  it ;  and  so  they  might  carry  things  as  they 
pleased.      But  the  world  was  now  awake ;    the  scriptures 
were  again  in  men's  hands,  and  people  would  not  be  so 
tamely  cozened  as  they  had  been.     Then  he  shews  how  un- 
safe it  was  for  any  Englishman  to  go  to  Mantua  ;  how  little 
regard  was  to  be  had  to  the  pope's  safe-conduct,  they  having 
so  oft  broken  their  oaths  and  promises.     He  also  shews  how 
little  reason  he  had  to  trust  himself  to  the  pope,  how  kind 
he  had  been  to  that  see  formerly,  and  how  basely  they  had 
requited  it :  and  that  now,  these  three  years  past,  they  had 
been  stirring  up  all  Christian  princes  against  him,  and  using 
all  possible  means  to  create  him  trouble.     Therefore  he  de- 
clared, he  would  not  go  to  any  council  called  by  the  bishop  of 


28  The  king's  protestation  was 
not  published  till  about  eight  or 
nine  months  after  that  was  obtained, 
which  you  there  mention,  which 
was  the  20th  of  July,  1536.  And 
in  the  protestation,  mention  is  made 
of  the  putting  off  the  council  from 


May  to  November,  1537,  which 
came  out  in  April  or  May  that  year. 
And  in  April  1538,  the  king  set  out 
another  protestation  against  a  bull 
for  the  council  at  Vicenza,  which  is 
not  mentioned  in  the  history.  [F.j 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  353 

"  Rome ;  but  when  there  was  a  general  peace  among  Christian 
"  princes,  he  would  most  gladly  hearken  to  the  motion  of  a 
"  true  general  council :  and  the  mean  while,  he  would  preserve 
"  all  the  articles  of  the  faith  in  his  kingdom,  and  sooner  lose 
"  his  life  and  his  crown  than  suffer  any  of  them  to  be  put 
"  down.  And  so  he  protested  against  any  council  to  be  held 
"  at  Mantua,  or  any  where  else,  by  the  bishop  of  Rome's 
"  authority :  that  he  would  not  acknowledge  it,  nor  receive 
"  any  of  their  decrees." 

At  this  time  Reginald  Pole,  who  was  of  the  royal  blood,  Cardinal 
being  by  his  mother  descended  from  the  duke  of  Clarence,    °  g^'e 
brother  to  king  Edward  the  Fourth,  and  in  the  same  degree  king's  pro- 
of  kindred  with  the  king  by  his  father's  side,  was  in  great  [parker, ' 
esteem  for  his  learning,  and  other  excellent  virtues.     It  seems  AntlcL- 

to  .  ,.       Brit. 

the  king  had  determined  to  breed  him  up  to  the  greatest  dig-  p.  514.] 
nity  in  the  church ;  and  to  make  him  as  eminent  in  learning, 
and  other  acquired  parts,  as  he  was  for  quality,  and  a  natural 
sweetness  and  nobleness  of  temper.  Therefore  the  king  had  [Aug.  12, 
given  him  the  deanery  of  Exeter,  with  several  other  dignities, 
towards  his  maintenance  beyond  sea;  and  sent  him  to  Paris, 
where  he  stayed  several  years.  There  he  first  incurred  the 
king's  displeasure  :  for,  being  desired  by  him  to  concur  with 
221  his  agents  in  procuring  the  subscriptions  and  seals  of  the 
French  universities,  he  excused  himself;  yet  it  was  in  such 
terms,  that  he  did  not  openly  declare  himself  against  the  king. 
After  that,  he  came  over  to  England,  and  (as  he  writes  him- 
self) was  present  when  the  clergy  made  their  submission,  and 
acknowledged  the  king  supreme  head :  in  which,  since  he  was 
then  dean  of  Exeter,  and  kept  his  deanery  several  years  after 
that,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted,  but  that,  as  he  was  by  his  place 
obliged  to  sit  in  the  convocation,  so  he  concurred  with  the  rest 
in  making:  that  submission.  From  thence  he  went  to  Padua'29, 
where  he  lived  long,  and  was  received  into  the  friendship  and 
society  of  some  celebrated  persons,  who  gave  themselves  much 
to  the  study  of  eloquence,  and  of  the  Roman  authors.  These 
were  Centareno,  Bembo,  Caraffa,  Sadoletti,  with  a  great  many 

29  Pole  lived  at  Padua  long  before  learned  men  was  now  removed  to 

this  time,  and  not  after  it,  (as  Antiq.  Rome,  whither  Pole  seems  to  have 

Brit.    [p.  515.]   from   which    it    is  gone  to  them.    [F.] 
vouched,  has  it,)  but  that  society  of 

BURNET,  PART  I.  A  a 


354  THE   HISTORY   OF  [part 

more,  that  became  afterwards  well  known  over  the  world  :  but 
all  those  gave  Pole  the  preeminence  ;  and  that  justly  too,  for 
he  was  accounted  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  of  his  time. 

The  kina'  called  him  oft  home  to  assist  him  in  his  affairs, 
but  he  still  declined  it :  at  length,  finding  delays  could  prevail 
no  longer,  he  wrote  the  king  word,  that  he  did  not  approve  of 
what  he  had  done,  neither  in  the  matter  of  his  divorce,  nor  his 
separation  from  the  apostolic  see.  To  this  the  king  answered, 
desiring  his  reasons  why  he  disagreed  from  him,  and  sent  him 
over  a  book30  which  doctor  Sampson  had  writ  in  defence  of 
And  writes  the  proceedings  in  England.  Upon  which  he  wrote  his  book 
his  book      -Qe  rjnione  Ecclesiastica31,  and  sent  it  over  to  the  kino-;  and 

agamst  _  ° 

him.  soon  after  printed  it  this  year.     In  which  book  he  condemned 

the  king's  actions,  and  pressed  him  to  return  to  the  obedience 
he  owed  the  see  of  Rome,  with  many  sharp  reflections ;  but 
the  book  was  more  considered  for  the  author,  and  the  wit  and 
eloquence  of  it,  than  for  any  great  learning,  or  deep  reasoning 
in  it.  He  did  also  very  much  depress  the  royal,  and  exalt  the 
papal  authority  :  he  compared  the  king  to  Nabuchodonosor, 
and  addressed  himself  in  the  conclusion  to  the  emperor,  whom 
he  conjured  to  turn  his  arms  rather  against  the  king  than  the 
Turk.  And  indeed  the  indecencies  of  his  expressions  against 
the  king,  not  to  mention  the  scurrilous  language  he  bestows  on 
Sampson,  whose  book  he  undertakes  to  answer,  are  such,  that 
it  appears  how  much  the  Italian  air  had  changed  him ;  and 
that  his  converse  at  Padua  had  for  some  time  defaced  that 
generous  temper  of  mind  which  was  otherwise  so  natural  to 
him. 

Upon  this,  the  king  desired  him  at  first  to  come  over,  and 

30  [Oratio  qua  docet  Anglos  re-  think  there  are  some  things  said  in 
giae  dignitati  cum  primis  ut  obedi-  the  body  of  the  book  that  suppose 
ant  quia  uerbum  Dei  preecipit,  epi-  it  to  be  printed  sooner.  It  was 
scopo  Romano  ne  sint  audientes  &c.  without  date.  [B.] 

4°.  London.]  [It  was  printed  at  Rome  in  folio, 

31  The  title  is  DeUnitate  Ecclesia-  and  is  entitled,  Pro  Unitate  Ecclesia- 
stirat.  I  have  not  seen  the  first  edi-  stica  ad  Henricum  Octavum.  There 
tion,  being  very  scarce,  and  having  is  a  copy  in  the  Bodleian  library, 
been  kept  up  in  a  few  hands ;  but  The  author,  in  calling  the  volume 
it  was  reprinted  in  Germany,  anno  De  Unione  Ecclesiastica,  probably 
1555,  said  in  the  preface  to  have  followed  Sanders  who  so  entitles  it, 
been  printed   fifteen  years  before;  (p.  85.)] 

that  is,  about  the  year  1540.    But  I 


000 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  355 

explain  some  passages  in  his  book :  but  when  he  could  not 
thus  draw  him  into  his  toils,  he  proceeded  severely  against 
him,  and  divested  him  of  all  his  dignities;  but  these  were 
plentifully  made  up  to  him  by  the  pope's  bounty,  and  the  em- 
peror's. He  was  afterwards  rewarded  with  a  cardinal's  hat,  but 
he  did  not  rise  above  the  degree  of  a  deacon.  Some  believe, 
that  the  spring  of  this  opposition  he  made  to  the  king  was  a 
secret  affection  he  had  for  the  lady  Mary.  The  publishing  of 
this  book  made  the  king  set  the  bishops  on  work  to  write  vin- 
dications of  his  actions  ;  which  Stokesley  and  Tunstall  did  in  a 
long  and  learned  letter  that  they  wrote  to  Pole.  And  Gar-  Many 
diner32  published  his  book  of  True  Obedience ;  to  which  Bon-  Sen  for 
ner,  who  was  hot  on  the  scent  of  preferment,  added  a  preface,  the  king. 
But  the  king  designed  sharper  tools  for  Pole's  punishment ; 
yet  an  attainder  in  absence  was  all  he  could  do  against  himself. 
But  his  family  and  kindred  felt  the  weight  of  the  king's  dis- 
pleasure very  sensibly. 

But  now  I  must  give  an  account  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  pursuant  to  the  act  of  parliament,  though  I  can- 
not fix  the  exact  time  in  which  it  was  done.  I  have  seen  the 
original  instructions,  with  the  commission  given  to  those  who 
were  to  visit  the  monasteries  in  and  about  Bristol.  All  the 
rest  were  of  the  same  kind :  they  bear  date  the  twenty-eighth 
of  April,  after  the  session  of  parliament  was  over ;  and  the  re- 
port was  to  be  made  in  the  octaves  of  St.  Michael  the  arch- 
angel. But  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  the  great  concussion 
and  disorder  things  were  in  by  the  queen's  death  made  the 
commissioners  unwilling  to  proceed  in  so  invidious  a  matter 
till  they  saw  the  issue  of  the  new  parliament.  Therefore  I 
have  delayed  giving  any  account  of  the  proceedings  in  that 
matter  till  this  place.  The  instructions  will  be  found  in  the  Collect. 
Collection.     The  substance  of  them  was  as  follows.  Numb.  6. 

Instruc- 

"  The  auditors  of  the  court  of  augmentations  were  the  per-  tions  about 
"  sons  that  were  employed.  Four,  or  any  three  of  them,  were  tioen  tf°  u" 
"  commissioned  to  execute  the  instructions  in  every  particular  monaste- 

32    [Gardiner    (Stephanus).     De  cerning  True  Obedience,  was  printed 

Vera  Obedientia  Oratio,  4to.  Lond.  in  Latin,  in  London,  1534;  an  Eng- 

apud  Tho.  Bertheletum,  1535.  lish  translation,  by  Michael  Wood, 

The    Preface  to  the   Oration  of  appeared  at  Rouen  in  1553.] 
Stephen,  bishop  of  Winchester,  con- 

A  a  1 


356  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  visitation.  One  auditor  or  receiver,  and  one  of  the  clerks  of 
"  the  former  visitation,  were  to  call  for  three  discreet  persons 
"  in  the  county,  who  were  also  named  by  the  king.  They 
"  were  to  signify  to  every  house  the  statute  of  dissolution,  and 
"  shew  them  their  commission.  Then  they  were  to  put  the 
"  governor,  or  any  other  officer  of  the  house,  to  declare  upon 
"  oath  the  true  state  of  it ;  and  to  require  him  speedily  to 
"  appear  before  the  court  of  augmentations,  and  in  the  mean 
"  time  not  to  meddle  with  any  thing  belonging  to  the  house. 
"  Then  to  examine  how  many  religious  persons  were  in  the 
"  house,  and  what  lives  they  led ;  how  many  of  them  were 
"  priests ;  how  many  of  them  would  go  to  other  religious 
"  houses ;  and  how  many  of  them  would  take  capacities,  and 
tf  go  into  the  world.  They  were  to  estimate  the  state  and 
"  fabric  of  the  house,  and  the  number  of  the  servants  they 
"  kept ;  and  to  call  for  the  convent-seal,  and  writings,  and  put 
"  them  in  some  sure  place,  and  take  an  inventory  of  all  their 
"  plate,  and  their  movable  goods,  and  to  know  the  value  of 
"  all  that,  before  the  first  of  March  last,  belonged  to  the  house, 
"  and  what  debts  they  owed.  They  were  to  put  the  convent- 
"  seal,  with  the  jewels  and  plate,  in  safe  keeping,  and  to  leave 
"  the  rest  (an  inventory  being  first  taken)  in  the  governors' 
"  hands,  to  be  kept  by  them  till  further  order.  And  the 
"  governors  were  to  meddle  with  none  of  the  rents  of  the 
"  house,  except  for  necessary  sustenance,  till  they  were  an- 
"  other  way  disposed  of.  They  were  to  try  what  leases  and 
"  deeds  had  been  made  for  a  whole  year,  before  the  fourth  of 
(t  February  last.  Such  as  would  still  live  in  monasteries  were 
"  to  be  recommended  to  some  of  the  great  monasteries  that 
"  lay  next :  and  such  as  would  live  in  the  world  must  come  to 
"  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  or  the  lord  chancellor,  to  re- 
"  ceive  capacities."  (From  which  it  appears,  that  Cromwell 
was  not  at  this  time  lord  vicegerent,  for  he  granted  these  capa- 
cities when  he  was  in  that  power.)  "  And  the  commissioners  223 
"  were  to  give  them  a  reasonable  allowance  for  their  journey, 
"  according  to  the  distance  they  lived  at.  The  governor  was 
"  to  be  sent  to  the  court  of  augmentations,  who  were  to  assign 
"  him  a  yearly  pension  for  his  life." 

What  report  those  commissioners  made,  or  how  they  obeyed 
their  instructions,  Ave  know  not ;  for  the  account  of  it  is  razed 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  357 

out  of  the  records.  The  writers  that  lived  near  that  time  re- 
present the  matter  very  odiously,  and  say,  about  ten  thousand  [Sanders, 
persons  were  set  to  seek  for  their  livings  ;  only  forty  shillings  p'  J  'J 
in  money,  and  a  crown,  being  given  to  every  religious  man. 
The  rents  of  them  all  rose  to  about  thirty-two  thousand 
pounds  :  and  the  goods,  plate,  jewels,  and  other  movables, 
were  valued  at  an  hundred  thousand  pound :  and  it  is  gene- 
rally said,  and  not  improbably,  that  the  commissioners  were  as 
careful  to  enrich  themselves,  as  to  increase  the  king's  revenue. 
The  churches  and  cloisters  were  for  the  most  part  pulled 
down  ;  and  the  lead,  bells,  and  other  materials,  were  sold  ;  and 
this  must  needs  have  raised  great  discontents  everywhere. 

The  religious  persons  that  were  undone  went  about  com-  Great  dis- 
placing of  the  sacrilege  and  injustice  of  the  suppression ;  that  amon^  au 
what  the  piety  of  their  ancestors  had  dedicated  to  God  and  sorts  of 
his  saints  was  now  invaded  and  converted  to  secular  ends. 
They  said,  the  king's  severity  fell  first  upon  some  particular 
persons  of  their  orders,  who  were  found  delinquents ;  but  now, 
upon  the  pretended  miscarriages  of  some  individual  persons,  to 
proceed  against  their  houses,  and  suppress  them,  was  an  un- 
heard-of practice.  The  nobility  and  gentry,  whose  ancestors 
had  founded  or  enriched  these  houses,  and  who  provided  for 
their  younger  children,  or  impoverished  friends,  by  putting 
them  into  these  sanctuaries,  complained  much  of  the  prejudice 
they  sustained  by  it.  The  people,  that  had  been  well  enter- 
tained at  the  abbots'  tables  were  sensible  of  their  loss ;  for 
generally,  as  they  travelled  over  the  country,  the  abbeys  were 
their  stages,  and  were  houses  of  reception  to  travellers  and 
strangers.  The  devouter  sort  of  people  of  their  persuasion 
thought  their  friends  must  now  lie  in  purgatory  without  relief, 
except  they  were  at  the  charge  to  keep  a  priest,  who  should 
daily  say  mass  for  their  souls.  The  poor,  that  fed  on  their 
daily  alms,  were  deprived  of  that  supply. 

But,  to  compose  those  discontents,  first,  many  books  were  Endea- 
publishcd,  to  shew  what  crimes,  cheats,  and  impostures  those  vox"'s  are 
religious  persons  were  guilty  of.     Yet  that  wrought  not  much  quiet  these. 
on  the  people  ;    for  they  said,  why  were  not  these   abuses 
severely  punished  and  reformed  ?   But  must  whole  houses,  and 
the  succeeding  generations,  be  punished  for  the  faults  of  a 
few  1    Most  of  these  reports  were  also  denied  ;  and  even  those, 


358  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

who  before  envied  the  ease  and  plenty  in  which  the  abbots 
and  monks  lived,  began  now  to  pity  them,  and  condemned  the 
proceedings  against  them.  But,  to  allay  this  general  discon- 
tent, Cromwell  advised  the  king  to  sell  their  lands,  at  very 
easy  rates,  to  the  gentry  in  the  several  counties,  obliging  them, 
since  they  had  them  upon  such  terms,  to  keep  up  the  wonted 
hospitality.  This  drew  in  the  gentry  apace  both  to  be  satisfied 
with  what  was  done,  and  to  assist  the  crown  for  ever  in  the 
defence  of  these  laws ;  their  own  interest  being  so  interwoven 
with  the  rights  of  the  crown.  The  commoner  sort,  who,  like  224 
those  of  old  that  followed  Christ  for  the  loaves,  were  most  con- 
cerned for  the  loss  of  a  good  dinner  on  a  holyday,  or  when 
they  went  over  the  country  about  their  business,  were  now 
also  in  a  great  measure  satisfied,  when  they  heard  that  all,  to 
whom  these  lands  were  given,  were  obliged,  under  heavy  for- 
feitures, to  keep  up  the  hospitality ;  and  when  they  saw  that 
put  in  practice,  their  discontent,  which  lay  chiefly  in  their 
stomach,  was  appeased. 

And,  to  quiet  other  people,  who  could  not  be  satisfied  with 
such  things,  the  king  made  use  of  a  clause  in  the  act  that  gave 
him  the  lesser  monasteries,  which  empowered  him  to  continue 
such  as  he  should  think  fit.  Therefore,  on  the  seventeenth  of 
August,  he  by  his  letters  patents  did  of  new  give  back,  in  per- 
petuam  eleemosynam,  for  perpetual  alms,  five  abbeys.  The 
first  of  these  was  the  abbey  of  St.  Mary  of  Bitlesden33,  of  the 
Collect.  Cistercian  order,  in  Bedfordshire.  Ten  more  were  afterwards 
secTV  3  confirmed.  Sixteen  nunneries  were  also  confirmed ;  in  all 
thirty-one  houses.  The  patents  (in  most  of  which  some  manors 
are  excepted,  that  had  been  otherwise  disposed  of)  are  all  en- 
rolled, and  yet  none  of  our  writers  have  taken  any  notice  of 
this34.  It  seems  these  houses  had  been  more  regular  than  the 
rest :  so  that,  in  a  general  calamity,  they  were  rather  reprieved 
than  excepted ;  for  two  years  after  this,  in  the  suppression  of 
the  rest  of  the  monasteries,  they  fell  under  the  common  fate 
of  other  houses.  By  these  new  endowments  they  were  obliged 
to  pay  tenths  and  first-fruits,  and  to  obey  all  the  statutes  and 
rules  that  should  be  sent  to  them  from  the  king,  as  supreme 

33  It  is  in  Buckinghamshire.  [B.]     two  such  new  foundations,  viz.  Bi- 

34  Dugdale   in  his  Monasticon,     sham,  in  Berks,  and  Stixwould,  Line, 
vol.  iii.  p.  21,  has  taken  notice  of     [B.] 


book  iil]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1536.)  359 

head  of  the  church.  But  it  is  not  unlike,  that  some  presents  to 
the  commissioners,  or  to  Cromwell,  made  these  houses  outlive 
this  ruin ;  for  I  find  great  trading  in  bribes  at  this  time,  which 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  when  there  was  so  much  to  be  shared. 

But  great  disorders  followed  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  Yet  people 
other  houses.  People  were  still  generally  discontented.  The  fn^e  to 
suppression  of  religious  houses  occasioned  much  outcrying,  and  rebel. 
the  articles  then  lately  published  about  religion  increased  the 
distaste  they  had  conceived  at  the  government.  The  old  clergy 
were  also  very  watchful  to  improve  all  opportunities,  and  to 
blow  upon  every  spark.  And  the  pope's  power  of  deposing 
kings  had  been  for  almost  five  hundred  years  received  as  an 
article  of  faith.  The  same  council  that  established  transub- 
stantiation  had  asserted  it ;  and  there  were  many  precedents, 
not  only  in  Germany,  France,  Spain,  and  Italy,  but  also  in 
England,  of  kings  that  were  deposed  by  popes,  whose  domin- 
ions were  given  to  other  princes.  This  had  begun  in  the 
eighth  century,  in  two  famous  deprivations.  The  one  in 
France,  of  Childeric  the  Third,  who  was  deprived,  and  the 
crown  given  to  Pepin :  and,  about  the  same  time,  those  domin- 
ions in  Italy,  which  were  under  the  eastern  emperors,  re- 
nounced their  allegiance  to  them.  In  both  these  the  popes 
had  a  great  hand  ;  yet  they  rather  confirmed  and  approved  of 
those  treasonable  mutations,  than  gave  the  first  rise  to  them. 
But  after  pope  Gregory  the  Seventh's  time,  it  was  clearly 
assumed  as  a  right  and  prerogative  of  the  papal  crown  to  de- 
pose princes,  and  absolve  subjects  from  the  oaths  of  allegiance, 
225  and  set  up  others  in  their  stead.  And  all  those  emperors  or 
kings,  that  contested  any  thing  with  popes,  sat  very  uneasy 
and  unsafe  in  their  thrones  ever  after  that.  But  if  they  were 
tractable  to  the  demands  of  the  court  of  Rome,  then  they 
might  oppress  their  subjects,  and  govern  us  unjustly  as  they 
pleased  ;  for  they  had  a  mighty  support  from  that  court.  This 
made  princes  more  easily  bear  the  pope's  usurpations,  because 
they  were  assisted  by  them  in  all  their  other  proceedings. 
And  the  friars,  having  the  consciences  of  people  generally  in 
their  hands.,  as  they  had  the  word  given  by  their  general  at 
Rome,  so  they  disposed -people  either  to  be  obedient  or  sedi- 
tious, as  they  pleased. 

Now,  not  only  their  own  interests,  mixed  with  their  zeal  for 


360  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

the  ancient  religion,  but  the  pope's  authority,  gave  them  as 
good  a  warrant  to  incline  the  people  to  rebel,  as  any  had  in 
former  times,    of  whom  some   were    canonized   for   the    like 
[Aug.  30.    practices.     For  in  August  the  former  year,  the  pope  had  sum- 
RonT         moned  the  king  to  appear  within  ninety  days,  and  to  answer 
tom.  ii.  p.    for  putting  away  his  queen,  and  taking  another  wife  ;    and  for 
1673.]         the  laws  he  had  made  against  the  church,  and  putting  the 
bishop  of  Rochester  and  others  to  death  for  not  obeying  these 
laws :   and  if  he  did  not  reform  these  faults,  or  did  not  appear 
to  answer  for  them,  the  pope  excommunicated  him,  and  all  that 
favoured  him  ;  deprived  the  king,  put  the  kingdom  under  an 
interdict,  forbade  all  his  subjects  to  obey,   and  other  states 
to  hold  commerce  with  him  ;    dissolved  all  his  leagues  with 
foreign  princes,  commanded  all  the  clergy  to  depart  out  of  Eng- 
land, and  his  nobility  to  rise  in  arms  against  him.     But  now, 
the  force  of  those  thunders,  which  had  formerly  produced  great 
earthquakes  and  commotions,  was  much   abated :    yet   some 
storms  were  raised  by  this,  though  not  so  violent  as  had  been 
in  former  times. 
The  king's       The  people  were  quiet  till  they  had  reaped  their  harvest : 
about'reli1-3  anc^  though  some  injunctions  were  published  a  little  before,  to 
gion.  help  it  the  better  forward,  most  of  the  holydays  of  harvest 

Cone,  iii!  being  abolished  by  the  king's  authority,  yet  that  rather  in- 
p-823-l  flamed  them  the  more.  Other  injunctions  were  also  published 
in  the  king's  name  by  Cromwell,  his  vicegerent,  which  was  the 
first  act  of  pure  supremacy  done  by  the  king  :  for  in  all  that 
went  before,  he  had  the  concurrence  of  the  two  convocations. 
But  these,  it  is  like,  were  penned  by  Cranmer.  The  reader  is 
referred  to  the  Collection  of  Papers  for  them,  as  I  transcribed 
them  out  of  the  Register. 
Collect.  "  The  substance  of  them  was,  that,  first,  all  ecclesiastical 

um  .  7.  (C  incum|)en^s  were  for  a  quarter  of  a  year  after  that,  once 
"  every  Sunday,  and  ever  after  that  twice  every  quarter,  to 
"  publish  to  the  people,  that  the  bishop  of  Rome's  usurped 
"  power  had  no  ground  in  the  law  of  God  ;  and  therefore  was 
"  on  good  reasons  abolished  in  this  kingdom  :  and  that  the 
"  king's  power  was  by  the  law  of  God  supreme  over  all  persons 
"  in  his  dominions.  And  they  were  to  do  their  uttermost 
"  endeavour  to  extirpate  the  pope's  authority,  and  to  establish 
"  the  king^. 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  361 

"  Secondly,  They  were  to  declare  the  articles  lately  pub- 
"  lished,  and  agreed  to  by  the  convocation ;  and  to  make  the 
"  people  know  which  of  them  were  articles  of  faith,  and  which 
"  of  them  rules  for  the  decent  and  politic  order  of  the  church. 
226  "  Thirdly,  They  were  to  declare  the  articles  lately  set  forth 
"  for  the  abrogation  of  some  superfluous  holydays,  particularly 
"  in  harvest-time. 

"  Fourthly,  They  were  no  more  to  extol  images  or  relics, 
"  for  superstition  or  gain ;  nor  to  exhort  people  to  make 
"  pilgrimages,  as  if  blessings  and  good  things  were  to  be 
"  obtained  of  this  or  that  saint  or  image.  But,  instead  of  that, 
"  the  people  were  to  be  instructed  to  apply  themselves  to  the 
"  keeping  of  God's  commandments,  and  doing  works  of  charity  ; 
"  and  to  believe,  that  God  was  better  served  by  them  when 
"  they  stayed  at  home,  and  provided  for  their  families,  than 
"  when  they  went  pilgrimages ;  and  that  the  moneys  laid  out 
"  on  these  were  better  given  to  the  poor. 

"  Fifthly,  They  were  to  exhort  the  people  to  teach  their 
"  children  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten  Com- 
"  mandments  in  English  :  and  every  incumbent  was  to  explain 
"  these,  one  article  a  day,  till  the  people  were  instructed  in 
"  them.  And  to  take  great  care  that  all  children  were  bred 
"  up  to  some  trade  or  way  of  living. 

"  Sixthly,  They  must  take  care  that  the  sacraments  and 
"  sacramentals  be  reverently  administered  in  their  parishes  ; 
"  from  which  when  at  any  time  they  were  absent,  they  were 
"  to  commit  the  cure  to  a  learned  and  expert  curate,  who  might 
"  instruct  the  people  in  wholesome  doctrine ;  that  they  might 
"  all  see  that  their  pastors  did  not  pursue  their  own  profits 
"  or  interests  so  much  as  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good  of 
"  the  souls  under  their  cure. 

"  Seventhly3-^,  They  should  not,  except  on  urgent  occasion, 
"  go  to  taverns  or  alehouses ;  nor  sit  too  long  at  any  sort  of 
"  games  after  their  meals,  but  give  themselves  to  the  study  of 
"  the  scripture,  or  some  other  honest  exercise  ;  and  remember 
"  that  they  must  excel  others  in  purity  of  life,  and  be  examples 
et  to  all  others  to  live  well  and  Christianly. 

"  Eighthly,  Because  the  goods  of  the  church  were  the  goods 

35  The  seventh  article  is  wholly  Latin  and  English,  and  laying  it  in 
omitted,  for  providing  a  Bible  in     the  quire.    [S.] 


362  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  of  the  poor,  every  beneficed  person  that  had  twenty  pound  or 
"  above,  and  did  not  reside,  was  yearly  to  distribute  the  fortieth 
"  part  of  his  benefice  to  the  poor  of  the  parish. 

"  Ninthly,  Every  incumbent  that  had  a  hundred  pounds 
"  a  year  must  give  an  exhibition  for  one  scholar  at  some 
"  grammar-school,  or  university  ;  who,  after  he  had  completed 
"  his  studies,  was  to  be  partner  of  the  cure  and  charge,  both  in 
"  preaching  and  other  duties :  and  so  many  hundred  pounds 
(t  as  any  had,  so  many  students  he  was  to  breed  up. 

"  Tenthly,  Where  parsonage  or  vicarage-houses  were  in 
cc  great  decay,  the  incumbent  was  every  year  to  give  a  fifth 
"  part  of  his  profits  to  the  repairing  of  them,  till  they  were 
"  finished ;  and  then  to  maintain  them  in  the  state  they 
"  were  in. 

"  Eleventhly,  All   these  injunctions  were  to  be  observed, 
"  under  pain  of  suspension  and   sequestration   of  the   mean 
"  profits  till  they  were  observed." 
Which  These  were  equally  ungrateful  to  the  corrupt  clergy,  and  to 

censured,  the  laity  that  adhered  to  the  old  doctrine.  The  very  same 
opinions  about  pilgrimages,  images,  and  saints  departed,  and 
instructing  the  people  in  the  principles  of  Christian  religion  in 
the  vulgar  tongue,  for  which  the  Lollards  were,  not  long  ago,  227 
either  burnt  or  forced  to  abjure  them,  were  now  set  up  by  the 
king's  authority.  From  whence  they  concluded,  that  whatso- 
ever the  king  said  of  his  maintaining  the  old  doctrine,  yet  he 
was  now  changing  it.  The  clergy  also  were  much  troubled  at 
this  precedent,  of  the  king's  giving  such  injunctions  to  them 
without  the  consent  of  the  convocation  :  from  which  they  con- 
cluded, they  were  now  to  be  slaves  to  the  lord  vicegerent. 
The  matter  of  these  injunctions  was  also  very  uneasy  to  them. 
The  great  profits  they  made  by  their  images  and  relics,  and 
the  pilgrimages  to  them,  were  now  taken  away  ;  and  yet  severe 
impositions  and  heavy  taxes  were  laid  on  them  ;  a  fifth  part  for 
repairs,  a  tenth  at  least  for  an  exhibitioner,  and  a  fortieth  for 
charity,  which  were  cried  out  on  as  intolerable  burdens.  Their 
labour  was  also  increased,  and  they  were  bound  up  to  many 
severities  of  life  :  all  these  things  touched  the  secular  clergy  to 
the  quick,  and  made  them  concur  with  the  regular  clergy  in 
disposing  the  people  to  rebel. 

This  was  secretly  fomented  by  the  great  abbots.    For  though 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  363 

they  were  not  yet  struck  at,  yet  the  way  was  prepared  to  it ; 
and  their  houses  were  oppressed  with  crowds  of  those  who  were 
sent  to  them  from  the  suppressed  houses.  There  was  some 
pains  taken  to  remove  their  fears  :  for  a  letter  was  sent  to 
them  all  in  the  king's  name,  to  silence  the  reports  that  were 
spread  abroad,  as  if  all  monasteries  were  to  be  quite  suppressed. 
This  they  were  required  not  to  believe,  but  to  serve  God 
according  to  their  order,  to  obey  the  king's  injunctions,  to  keep 
hospitality,  and  make  no  wastes  nor  dilapidations.  Yet  this 
gave  them  small  comfort ;  and,  as  all  such  things  do,  rather 
increased  than  quieted  their  jealousies  and  fears.  So  many 
secret  causes  concurring,  no  wonder  the  people  fell  into  mu- 
tinous and  seditious  practices. 

The  first  rising  was  in  Lincolnshire36,  in  the  beginning  of  A  rebellion 
October ;  where  a  churchman,  disguised  into  a  cobbler,  and  shire. 
directed  by  a  monk,  drew  a  great  body  of  men  after  him.  [Herbert, 
About  twenty  thousand  were  gathered  together.     They  swore 
to  be  true   to   God,  the  king,  and  the  commonwealth,  and 
digested  their  grievances  into  a  few  articles,  which  they  sent  to 
the  king,  desiring  a  redress  of  them. 

"  They  complained  of  some  things  that  related  to  secular  Their  de- 
"  concerns,  and  some  acts  of  parliament  that  were  uneasy 
"  to  them  :  they  also  complained  of  the  suppression  of  so  many 
"  religious  houses ;  that  the  king  had  mean  persons  in  high 
"  places  about  him,  who  were  ill  counsellors :  they  also  com- 
u  plained  of  some  bishops,  who  had  subverted  the  faith  ;  and 
"  they  apprehended  the  jewels  and  plate  of  their  churches 
u  should  be  taken  away.  Therefore  they  desired  the  king 
"  would  call  to  him  the  nobility  of  the  realm,  and  by  their 
"  advice  redress  their  grievances  :  concluding  with  an  acknow- 
"  ledgment  of  the  king's  being  their  supreme  head,  and  that 
"  the  tenths  and  first-fruits  of  all  livings  belonged  to  him  of 
"  right." 

When  the  king  heard  of  this  insurrection,  he  presently  sent  [Oct.  7.] 

36  [See  Herbert,  who  says,  '  The  demands,  as  hoping,  perchance,  the 

Lincolnshire   men,  set   on   by  one  sooner   to  have  them  granted,'  p. 

doctor  Mackrel,  (prior  of  Barlings  473.    Coblet  is  probably  a  misprint 

in  the  said  county,  but  calling  him-  for  Cobler,  which  is  the  name  given 

self   captain    Coblet,)    began   first,  by  Hall,  p.  822,  and  Holinshed,  p. 

though    the    moderatest    in    their  941.] 


364  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  duke  of  Suffolk  with  a  commission  to   raise  forces  for 

dispersing  them  :    but  with  him  he  sent  an  answer  to  their 

The  king's  petition.     "  He  began  with  that  about   his  counsellors,   and 

[ibid.         "  sam",  ^  was  never  before  heard  of,  that  the  rabble  presumed 

474-]  et  to  dictate  to  their  prince  what  counsellors  he  should  choose : 

"  that  was  the  prince's  work,  and  not  theirs.  The  suppression  228 
"  of  religious  houses  was  done  pursuant  to  an  act  of  parliament, 
"  and  was  not  set  forth  by  any  of  his  counsellors.  The  heads 
"  of  these  religious  houses  had  under  their  own  hands  confessed 
"  those  horrid  scandals  which  made  them  a  reproach  to  the 
"  nation.  And  in  many  houses  there  were  not  above  four  or 
"  five  religious  persons.  So  it  seemed  they  were  better  pleased 
"  that  such  dissolute  persons  should  consume  their  rents  in 
"  riotous  and  idle  living,  than  that  their  prince  should  have 
"  them  for  the  common  good  of  the  whole  kingdom.  He  also 
"  answered  their  other  demands  in  the  same  high  and  com- 
"  manding  strain  ;  and  required  them  to  submit  themselves  to 
"  his  mercy,  and  to  deliver  their  captains  and  lieutenants  into 
C(  the  hands  of  his  lieutenants  ;  and  to  disperse,  and  carry 
"  themselves  as  became  good  and  obedient  subjects,  and  to  put 
"  an  hundred  of  their  number  into  the  hands  of  his  lieutenants, 
"  to  be  ordered  as  they  had  deserved." 
[Grafton,  When  this  answer  was  brought  to  them,  it  raised  their 
'  p-  457'J  spirits  higher.  The  practising  clergymen  continued  to  inflame 
them.  They  persuaded  them,  that  the  Christian  religion 
would  be  very  soon  defaced,  and  taken  away  quite,  if  they  did 
not  vigorously  defend  it :  that  it  would  come  to  that,  that 
no  man  should  marry  a  wife,  receive  any  of  the  sacraments, 
nor  eat  a  piece  of  roast  meat,  but  he  should  pay  for  it :  that  it 
were  better  to  live  under  the  Turk,  than  under  such  oppres- 
sion. Therefore  there  was  no  cause  in  which  they  could  with 
more  honour  and  a  better  conscience  hazard  their  lives,  than 
for  the  holy  faith.  This  encouraged  and  kept  them  together  a 
little  longer.  They  had  forced  many  of  the  gentry  of  the 
country  to  go  along  with  them.  These  sent  a  secret  message 
to  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  letting  him  know  what  ill  effects  the 
king's  rough  answer  had  produced  :  that  they  had  joined  with 
the  people  only  to  moderate  them  a  little,  and  they  knew 
nothing  that  would  be  so  effectual  as  the  offer  of  a  general 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  365 

pardon.     So  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  as  he  moved  towards  them  It  is 
with  the  forces  which  he  had  drawn  together,  sent  to  the  king  theduke  of 
to  know  his  pleasure,  and  earnestly  advised  a  gentle  composing  Suffolk. 
of  the  matter  without  blood.     At  that  same  time  the  king  was  a  new  re- 
advertised  from   the   north,   that   there   was   a   general  and  ^ ""J? 
formidable  rising  there.     Of  which  he  had  the  greater  appre- 
hensions, because  of  their  neighbourhood  to  Scotland  ;    whose 
king,  being  the  king's  nephew,  was  the  heir  presumptive  of  the 
crown,  since  the  king  had  illegitimated  both  his  daughters. 
And  though  the  king's  firm  alliance  with  France  made  him  less 
apprehensive  of  trouble  from  Scotland,  and  their  king  was 
at  this  time  in  France,  to  marry  the  daughter  of  Francis ;   yet 
he  did  not  know  how  far  a  general  rising  might  invite  that 
king  to  send  orders  to  head  and  assist  the  rebels  in  the  north. 
Therefore  he  resolved  first   to   quiet  Lincolnshire.     And  as 
he  had  raised  a  great  force  about  London,  with  which  he  was 
marching  in  person  against  them ;  so  he  sent  a  new  proclama- 
tion, requiring  them  to  return  to  their  obedience,  with  secret 
assurances  of  mercy.    By  these  means  they  were  melted  away. 
Those  who  had  been  carried  in  the  stream  submitted  to  the 
king's  mercy,  and  promised  all  obedience  for  the  future  :  others, 
229  that  were  obstinate,  and  knew  themselves  unpardonable,  fled 
northward,  and  joined  themselves  to  the  rebels  there  ;    some  of 
their  other  leaders  were  apprehended,  in  particular  the  cobbler, 
and  were  executed. 

But  for  the  northern  rebellion,  as  the  parties  concerned, 
being  at  a  greater  distance  from  the  court,  had  larger  oppor- 
tunities to  gather  themselves  into  a  huge  body ;  so  the  whole 
contrivance  of  it  was  better  laid.  One  Aske  commanded  in 
chief.  Ho  was  a  gentleman  of  an  ordinary  condition,  but 
understood  well  how  to  draw  on  and  govern  a  multitude. 
Their  march  was  called  the  pilgrimage  of  grace :  and,  to 
inveigle  the  people,  some  priests  marched  before  them  with 
crosses  in  their  hands.  In  their  banners  they  had  a  crucifix  [Hall,  p. 
with  the  five  wounds,  and  a  chalice  ;  and  every  one  wore  on  '* 
his  sleeve,  as  the  badge  of  the  party,  an  emblem  of  the  five 
wounds  of  Christ,  with  the  name  Jesus  wrought  in  the  midst. 
All  that  joined  to  them  took  an  oath,  "that  they  entered  into 
"  this  pilgrimage  of  grace  for  the  love  of  God,  the  preservation 
"  of  the  king's  person  and  issue,  the  purifying  the  nobility,  and 


366  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  driving  away  all  baseborn  and  ill  counsellors ;  and  for  no 
"  particular  profit  of  their  own,  nor  to  do  displeasure  to  any, 
"  nor  to  kill  any  for  envy  ;  but  to  take  before  them  the  cross 
"  of  Christ,  his  faith,  the  restitution  of  the  church,  and  the 
"  suppression  of  heretics,  and  their  opinions."  These  were 
specious  pretences,  and  very  apt  to  work  upon  a  giddy  and 
Which  discontcnded  multitude.  So  people  flocked  about  their  crosses 
formidable.  anc^  standards  in  great  numbers ;  and  they  grew  to  be  forty 
[Herbert,  thousand  strong.  They  went  over  the  country  without  any 
great  opposition.  The  archbishop  of  York  and  the  lord  Darcy 
were  in  Pomfret  castle  ;  which  they  yielded  to  them,  and  were 
made  to  swear  their  covenant.  They  were  both  suspected  of 
being  secret  promoters  of  the  rebellion.  The  latter  suffered 
for  it ;  but  how  the  former  excused  himself,  I  cannot  give  any 
account.  They  also  took  York  and  Hull ;  but  though  they 
summoned  the  castle  of  Skipton,  yet  the  earl  of  Cumberland, 
who  would  not  degenerate  from  his  noble  ancestors,  held  it  out 
against  all  their  force :  and  though  many  of  the  gentlemen, 
whom  he  had  entertained  at  his  own  cost,  deserted  him,  yet  he 
made  a  brave  resistance.  Scarborough  castle  was  also  long 
besieged ;  but  there  sir  Ralph  Evers,  that  commanded  it,  gave 
an  unexampled  instance  of  his  fidelity  and  courage  ;  for  though 
his  provisions  fell  short,  so  that  for  twenty  days  he  and  his 
men  had  nothing  but  bread  and  water,  yet  they  stood  out  till 
they  were  relieved. 

This  rising  in  Yorkshire  encouraged  those  of  Lancashire, 
the  bishopric  of  Durham  and  Westmoreland,  to  arm.  Against 
these  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  that  he  might  not  fall  short 
of  the  gallantry  and  loyalty  of  his  renowned  ancestors,  made 
head ;  though  he  had  no  commission  from  the  king.  But 
he  knew  his  zeal  and  fidelity  would  easily  procure  him  a 
pardon,  which  he  modestly  asked  for  the  service  he  had  done. 
The  king  sent  him,  not  only  that,  but  a  commission  to  command 
in  chief  all  his  forces  in  the  north.  To  his  assistance  he  ordered 
the  earl  of  Derby  to  March ;  and  sent  Courtney,  marquis  of 
Exeter,  and  the  earls  of  Huntingdon  and  Rutland,  to  join  him. 
He  also  ordered  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  with  the  force  that 
he  had  led  into  Lincolnshire,  to  lie  still  there  ;  lest  they,  being 
but  newly  quieted,  should  break  out  again,  and  fall  upon  230 
his  armies  behind,  when  the  Yorkshire  men  met  them  before. 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  367 

On  the  twentieth  of  October  he  sent  the  duke  of  Norfolk  The  duke 
with  more  forces  to  join  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury  :    but  the  °nd  °[h°ers 
rebels  were  very  numerous  and  desperate.     When  the  duke  of  sent 

ao'ainst 

Norfolk  understood  their  strength,  he  saw  great  reason  to  tggm> 
proceed  with  much  caution :  for  if  they  had  got  the  least 
advantage  of  the  king's  troops,  all  the  discontents  in  England 
would,  upon  the  report  of  that,  have  broken  out.  He  saw 
their  numbers  were  now  such,  that  the  gaining  some  time  was 
their  ruin  :  for  such  a  great  body  could  not  subsist  long 
together  without  much  provisions,  and  that  must  be  very  hard 
for  them  to  bring  in  :  so  he  set  forward  a  treaty.  It  was  both 
honourable  for  the  king  to  offer  mercy  to  his  distracted  sub- 
jects, and  of  great  advantage  to  his  affairs ;  for  as  their 
numbers  did  every  day  lessen,  so  the  king's  forces  were  still 
increasing.  He  wrote  to  the  king,  that,  considering  the  season 
of  the  year,  he  thought  the  offering  some  fair  conditions  might 
persuade  them  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  disperse  them- 
selves :  yet  when  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury  sent  a  herald  with  a 
proclamation,  ordering  them  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and 
submit  to  the  king's  mercy ;  Aske  received  him  sitting  in  state,  [Herbert, 
with  the  archbishop  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  lord  Darcy  p' 4'  -1 
on  the  other ;  but  would  not  suffer  any  proclamation  to  be 
made,  till  he  knew  the  contents  of  it.  And  when  the  herald 
told  what  they  were,  he  sent  him  away  without  suffering  him 
to  publish  it.  And  then  the  priests  used  all  their  endeavours 
to  engage  the  people  to  a  firm  resolution  of  not  dispersing 
themselves,  till  all  matters  about  religion  were  fully  settled. 

As  they  went  forward,  they  everywhere  repossessed  the 
ejected  monks  of  their  houses ;  and  this  encouraged  the  rest, 
who  had  a  great  mind  to  be  in  their  old  nests  again.  They 
published  also  many  stories  among  them,  of  the  growing 
burdens  of  the  king's  government ;  and  made  them  believe, 
that  impositions  would  be  laid  on  every  thing  that  was  either 
bought  or  sold.  But  the  king,  hearing  how  strong  they  were, 
sent  out  a  general  summons  to  all  the  nobility  to  meet  him 
at  Northampton  the  seventh  of  November.  And  the  forces 
sent  against  the  rebels  advanced  to  Doncaster,  to  hinder  them  They  ad- 
from  coming  further  southward ;  and  took  the  bridge,  which  Doncaster. 
they  fortified,  and  laid  their  forces  along  the  river  to  maintain 
that  pass. 


368  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

[Grafton,  The  writers  of  that  time  say,  that  the  day  of  battle  was 
Haii,4p°  agreed  on  ;  but  that,  the  night  before,  excessive  rains  falling, 
823.  Her-  the  river  swelled  so,  that  it  was  unpassable  next  day,  and  they 
480.]  '  could  not  force  the  bridge.  Yet  it  is  not  likely  the  earl  of 
Shrewsbury,  having  in  all  but  five  thousand  men  about  him, 
would  agree  to  a  pitched  battle  with  those  who  were  six  times 
his  number,  being  then  thirty  thousand.  Therefore  it  is  more 
likely,  that  the  rebels  only  intended  to  pass  the  river  the  next 
day,  which  the  rain  that  fell  hindered  :  but  the  duke  of  Norfolk 
continued  to  press  a  treaty,  which  was  hearkened  to  by  the 
other  side,  who  were  reduced  to  great  straits ;  for  their 
captain  would  not  suffer  them  to  spoil  the  country,  and  they 
were  no  longer  able  to  subsist  without  doing;  that.  The  duke 
of  Norfolk  directed  some  that  were  secretly  gained,  or  had 
been  sent  over  to  them  as  deserters,  to  spread  reports  among  231 
them,  that  their  leaders  were  making  terms  for  themselves, 
and  would  leave  the  rest  to  be  undone.  This,  joined  to  their 
The  duke  necessities,  made  many  fall  off  every  day.  The  duke  of 
breaks  Norfolk,  finding  his  arts  had  so  good  an  operation,  offered 
th^ky  to  go  to  court  with  any  whom  they  would  send  with  their 
demands,  and  to  intercede  for  them.  This  he  knew  would 
take  up  some  time,  and  most  of  them  would  be  dispersed  before 
he  could  return.  So  they  sent  two  gentlemen,  whom  they  had 
forced  to  go  with  them,  to  the  king  to  Windsor.  Upon  this, 
the  king  discharged  the  rendezvous  at  Northampton,  and 
delayed  the  sending  an  answer  as  much  as  could  be :  but 
at  last,  hearing  that  though  most  of  them  Avere  dispersed,  yet 
they  had  engaged  to  return  upon  warning,  and  that  they  took 
it  ill  that  no  answer  came ;  he  sent  the  duke  of  Norfolk  to 
them  with  a  general  pardon,  six  only  excepted  by  name,  and 
four  others,  that  were  not  named.  But  in  this  the  king's 
counsels  were  generally  censured ;  for  every  one  was  now  in 
fear,  and  so  the  rebels  rejected  the  proposition.  The  king  also 
sent  them  word  by  their  own  messenger,  "  That  he  took  it 
"  very  ill  at  their  hands,  that  they  had  chosen  rather  to  rise  in 
"  arms  against  him,  than  to  petition  him  about  these  things 
"  which  were  uneasy  to  them."  And,  to  appease  them  a  little, 
the  king,  by  new  injunctions,  commanded  the  clergy  to  continue 
the  use  of  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  church.  This,  it  is  like, 
was  intended  for  keeping  up  the  four  sacraments,  which  had 


hook  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1536.)  309 

not  been  mentioned  in  the  former  articles.  The  clergy,  that 
were  with  the  rebels,  met  at  Pomfret  to  draw  up  articles  to 
be  offered  at  the  treaty  that  was  to  be  at  Doncaster  ;  where 
three  hundred  were  ordered  to  come  from  the  rebels  to  treat 
with  the  king's  commissioners.  So  great  a  number  was  called, 
in  hopes  that  they  would  disagree  about  their  demands,  and  so 
fall  out  among  themselves.  On  the  sixth  of  December  they 
met  to  treat ;  and,  it  seems,  had  so  laid  their  matter  before, 
that  they  agreed  upon  these  following  demands. 

"  A  general  pardon  to  be  granted :    a  parliament  to  be  held  Their 
"  at  York,  and  courts  of  justice  to  be  there  ;    that  none  on  the  [Herbert, 
"  north  of  Trent    might   be    brought  to    London    upon   any  p-  479-1 
"  lawsuit.     They  desired  a  repeal  of  some  acts  of  parliament : 
"  those   for   the    last    subsidy,    for    uses,    for    making    words 
"  misprision  of  treason,  and  for  the  clergy's  paying  their  tenths 
"  and  first-fruits  to  the  king.    They  desired  the  princess  Mary 
"  might  be  restored  to  her  right  of  succession,  the  pope  to  his 
"  wonted  jurisdiction,  and  the  monks  to  their  houses  again  . 
"  that  the  Lutherans  might  be  punished  ;   that  Audley,  the 
"  lord  chancellor,  and  Cromwell,  the  lord  privy-seal,  might  be 
"  excluded  from  the  next  parliament ;    and  Lee  and  Layton, 
"  that  had  visited  the  monasteries,  might  be  imprisoned  for 
"  bribery  and  extortion.'" 

But  the  lords,  who  knew  that  the  king  would  by  no  means 
agree  to  these  propositions,  rejected  them.  Upon  which  the 
rebels  took  heart  again,  and  were  growing  more  enraged  and 
desperate ;  so  that  the  duke  of  Norfolk  wrote  to  the  king,  that 
if  some  content  were  not  given  them,  it  might  end  very  ill,  for 
they  were  much  stronger  than  his  forces  were :  and  both 
he,  and  the  other  commanders  of  the  king's  forces,  in  their 
232  hearts  wished  that  most  of  their  demands  were  granted ;  being 
persons,  who,  though  they  complied  with  the  king,  and  were 
against  that  rebellion,  yet  were  great  enemies  to  Lutheranisin, 
and  wished  a  reconciliation  with  Rome ;  of  which  the  duke  of 
Norfolk  was  afterwards  accused  by  the  lord  Darcy,  as  if  he  had 
secretly  encouraged  them  to  insist  on  these  demands.  The 
king,  seeing  the  humour  was  so  obstinate,  resolved  to  use 
gentler  remedies  ;  and  so  sent  to  the  duke  of  Norfolk  a  general 
pardon,  with  a  promise  of  a  parliament,  ordering  him  not 
to  make  use  of  these  except  in  extremity. 

BURNET,  PART  I.  fib 


370  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part 

This  was  no  easy  thing  to  that  duke ;  since  he  might  be 
afterwards  made  to  answer  for  it,  whether  the  extremity  was 
really  such  as  to  justify  his  granting  these  things.  But  the 
rebels  were  become  again  as  numerous  as  ever,  and  had 
resolved  to  cross  the  river,  and  to  force  the  king's  camp,  which 
was  still  much  inferior  to  theirs  in  number :  but  rains  falling 
the  second  time,  made  the  fords  again  impassable.  This  was 
spoken  of  by  the  king's  party  as  little  less  than  a  miracle ; 
that  God's  providence  had  twice  so  opportunely  interposed  for 
the  stopping  of  the  progress  of  the  rebels  :  and  it  is  very 
probable,  that,  on  the  other  side,  it  made  great  impression  on 
the  superstitious  multitude  ;  and  both  discouraged  them  and  dis- 
posed them  to  accept  of  the  offer  of  pardon,  and  a  parliament  to 
be  soon  called  for  considering  their  other  demands.  The  king 
[Herbert,  signed  the  pardon  at  Richmond  the  ninth  of  December :  by 
which  all  their  treasons  and  rebellion  to  that  day  were  par- 
doned, provided  they  made  their  submission  to  the  duke  of 
Norfolk  and  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  and  lived  in  all  due 
obedience  for  the  future. 
The  king's  The  king  sent  likewise  a  long  answer  to  their  demands. 
answer  to  «  ^s  ^0  wnat  they  complained  about  the  subversion  of  the 
[Herbert,  "  faith  :  he  protested  his  zeal  for  the  true  Christian  faith,  and 
S  4ed  "  ^na^  ne  would  live  and  die  in  the  defence  and  preservation  of 
1022.]  "  it ;  but  the  ignorant  multitude  were  not  to  instruct  him  what 
"  the  true  faith  was,  nor  to  presume  to  correct  what  he  and 
"  the  whole  convocation  had  agreed  on.  That  as  he  had  pre- 
"  served  the  church  of  England  in  her  true  liberties,  so  he 
"  would  do  still ;  and  that  he  had  done  nothing  that  was 
"  so  oppressive,  as  many  of  his  progenitors  had  done  upon 
"  lesser  grounds.  But  that  he  took  it  very  ill  of  them,  who 
"  had  rather  one  churl  or  two  should  enjoy  the  profits  of  their 
"  monasteries,  to  support  them  in  their  dissolute  and  abominable 
"  course  of  living,  than  that  their  king  should  have  them  for 
"  defraying  the  great  charge  he  was  at  for  their  defence 
"  against  foreign  enemies.  For  the  laws  ;  it  was  high  presump- 
"  tion  in  a  rude  multitude  to  take  on  them  to  judge  what  laws 
"  were  good,  and  what  not :  they  had  more  reason  to  think, 
"  that  he,  after  twenty-eight  years'  reign,  should  know  it 
"  better  than  they  could.  And  for  his  government ;  he  had  so 
"  long  preserved  his  subjects  in  peace   and  justice,  had   so 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1536.)  371 

"  defended  them  from  their  enemies,  had  so  secured  his 
"  frontier,  had  granted  so  many  general  pardons,  had  been  so 
"  unwilling  to  punish  his  subjects,  and  so  ready  to  receive  them 
"  into  mercy ;  that  they  could  shew  no  parallel  to  his  govern- 
"  ment  among  all  their  former  kings.  And  whereas  it  was 
"  said,  that  he  had  many  of  the  nobility  of  his  council  in 
f  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  and  few  now  ;  he  shewed  them, 
"  in  that  one  instance,  how  they  were  abused  by  the  lying 
"  slanders  of  some  disaffected  persons :  for  when  he  came  to 
233  "  the  crown,  there  were  none  that  were  born  noble  of  his 
"  council,  but  only  the  earl  of  Surrey  and  the  earl  of  Shrews- 
"  bury ;  whereas  now,  the  dukes  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  the 
"  marquis  of  Exeter,  the  lord  Steward,  the  earls  of  Oxford 
"  and  Sussex,  and  the  lord  Sandys,  were  of  the  privy  council : 
"  and  for  the  spiritualty,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the 
"  bishops  of  Winchester,  Hereford,  and  Chichester  were  also  of 
"  it.  And  he  and  his  whole  council,  judging  it  necessary 
"  to  have  some  at  the  board  who  understood  the  law  of 
"  England,  and  the  treaties  with  foreign  princes ;  he  had, 
"  by  their  unanimous  advice,  brought  in  his  chancellor,  and 
"  the  lord  privy-seal.  He  thought  it  strange,  that  they,  who 
"  were  but  brutes,  should  think  they  could  better  judge  who 
"  should  be  his  counsellors  than  himself  and  his  whole  council : 
"  therefore  he  would  bear  no  such  thing  at  their  hands ;  it 
"  being  inconsistent  with  the  duty  of  good  subjects  to  meddle 
"  in  such  matters.  But  if  they,  or  any  of  his  other  subjects, 
"  could  bring  any  just  complaint  against  any  about  him,  he 
"  was  ready  to  hear  it ;  and  if  it  were  proved,  he  would  punish 
"  it  according  to  law.  As  for  the  complaints  against  some 
"  of  the  prelates  for  preaching  against  the  faith,  they  could 
"  know  none  of  these  things  but  by  the  report  of  others  ;  since 
"  they  lived  at  such  a  distance,  that  they  themselves  had  not 
"  heard  any  of  them  preach.  Therefore  he  required  them  not 
"  to  give  credit  to  lies,  nor  be  misled  by  those  who  spread  such 
"  calumnies  and  ill  reports  :  and  he  concluded  all  with  a  severe 
"  expostulation  ;  adding,  that  such  was  his  love  to  his  subjects, 
"  that,  imputing  this  insurrection  rather  to  their  folly  and 
"  lightness,  than  to  any  malice  or  rancour,  he  was  willing 
"  to  pass  it  over  more  gently,  as  they  would  perceive  by  his 
"  proclamation." 

hb  z 


372 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part 


1337. 


The  rebel- 
•  lion  is 
quieted. 
[Herbert, 
p.  484.] 

[Ibid, 
p.  489.] 


New  ris- 
ings, but 
soon  dis- 
persed. 
[Herbert, 
p.  490.] 


Now  the  people  were  come  to  themselves  again,  and  glad  to 
get  off  so  easily  ;  and  they  all  cheerfully  accepted  the  king's 
offers,  and  went  home  again  to  their  several  dwellings.  Yet 
the  clergy  were  no  way  satisfied,  but  continued  still  to  practise 
amongst  them,  and  kept  the  rebellion  still  on  foot ;  so  that  it 
broke  out  soon  after.  The  duke  of  Norfolk  and  the  earl  of 
Shrewsbury  were  ordered  to  lie  still  in  the  country  with  their 
forces,  till  all  things  were  more  fully  composed.  They  made 
them  all  come  to  a  full  submission  :  and,  first,  to  revoke  all 
oaths  and  promises  made  during  the  rebellion,  for  which  they 
asked  the  king's  pardon  on  their  knees ;  secondly,  to  swear  to 
be  true  to  the  king,  and  his  heirs  and  successors  ;  thirdly,  to 
obey  and  maintain  all  the  acts  of  parliament  made  during  the 
king's  reign ;  fourthly,  not  to  take  arms  again,  but  by  the 
king's  authority  ;  fifthly,  to  apprehend  all  seditious  persons ; 
sixthly,  to  remove  all  the  monks,  nuns,  and  friars,  whom  they 
had  placed  again  in  the  dissolved  monasteries.  There  were 
also  orders  given  to  send  Aske,  their  captain,  and  the  lord 
Darcy,  to  court.  Aske  was  kindly  received,  and  well  used  by 
the  king.  He  had  shewed  great  conduct  in  commanding  the 
rebels ;  and  it  seems  the  king  had  a  mind,  either  to  gain  him 
to  his  service,  or,  which  I  suspect  was  the  true  cause,  to  draw 
from  him  a  discovery  of  all  those,  who,  in  the  other  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  had  favoured  or  relieved  them.  For  he 
suspected,  not  without  cause,  that  some  of  the  great  abbots  had 
given  secret  supplies  of  money  to  the  rebels :  for  which  many 
of  them  were  afterwards  tried  and  attainted.  The  lord  Darcy 
was  under  great  apprehensions,  and  studied  to  purge  himself,  234 
that  he  was  forced  to  a  compliance  with  them ;  but  pleaded, 
that  the  long  and  important  services  he  had  done  the  crown 
for  fifty  years,  he  being  then  fourscore,  together  with  his 
great  age  and  infirmity,  might  mitigate  the  king's  displeasure. 
But  he  was  made  prisoner.  Whether  this  gave  those  who  had 
been  in  arms  new  jealousies,  that  the  king's  pardon  would  not 
be  inviolably  observed  ;  or  whether  the  clergy  had  of  new 
prevailed  on  them  to  rise  in  arms  ;  I  cannot  determine  :  but  it 
broke  out  again,  though  not  so  dangerously  as  before.  Two 
gentlemen  of  the  north,  Musgrave  and  Tilby,  raised  a  body  of 
eight  thousand  men,  and  thought  to  have  surprised  Carlisle  ; 
but  were  repulsed  by  those  within.     And  in  their  return,  the 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.  (1537)  373 

duke  of  Norfolk  fell  upon  them,  and  routed  them.  He  took 
many  prisoners  ;  and,  by  martial  law,  hanged  up  all  their 
captains,  and  seventy  other  prisoners,  on  the  walls  of  Carlisle. 
Others,  at  that  same  time,  thought  to  have  surprised  Hull ; 
but  it  was  prevented,  and  the  leaders  of  that  party  were  also 
taken  and  executed. 

Many  other  risings  were  in  several  places  of  the  country, 
which  were  all  soon  repressed  :  the  ground  of  them  all  was, 
That  the  parliament  which  was  promised  was  not  called  :  but 
the  king  said,  They  had  not  kept  conditions  with  him,  nor 
would  he  call  a  parliament  till  all  things  were  quieted.  But 
the  duke  of  Norfolk's  vigilance  everywhere  prevented  their 
gathering  together  in  any  great  body :  and,  after  several 
unsuccessful  attempts,  at  length  the  country  was  absolutely 
quieted  in  January  following.  And  then  the  duke  of  Norfolk 
proceeded  according  to  the  martial  law  against  many  whom  he 
had  taken.  Aske  had  also  left  the  court  without  leave,  and 
had  gone  amongst  them,  but  was  quickly  taken.  So  he  and 
many  others  were  sent  to  several  places,  to  be  made  public 
examples.  He  suffered  at  York  ;  others  at  Hull,  and  in  other 
towns  in  Yorkshire.  But  the  lord  Darcy,  and  the  lord  Hussey, 
were  arraigned  at  Westminster,  and  attainted  of  treason  ;  the 
former  for  the  northern,  and  the  other  for  the  Lincolnshire 
insurrection.  The  lord  Darcy  was  beheaded  at  Tower-hill ;  The  chief 
and  was  much  lamented.     Evervbody  thought,  that,  consider-  of  the 

"  •>  °  rebels  ex- 

ing  his  merits,  his  age,  and  former  services,  he  had  hard  ecuted. 
measure.  The  lord  Hussey  was  beheaded  at  Lincoln.  The 
lord  Darcy,  in  his  trial,  accused  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  that,  in 
the  treaty  at  Doncaster,  he  had  encouraged  the  rebels  to 
continue  in  their  demands.  This  the  duke  denied,  and  desired 
a  trial  by  combat ;  and  gave  some  presumptions  to  shewT,  that 
the  lord  Darcy  bore  him  ill-will,  and  said  this  out  of  malice. 
The  king  either  did  not  believe  this,  or  would  not  seem  to 
believe  it :  and  the  duke's  great  diligence  in  the  suppression  of 
these  commotions  set  him  beyond  all  jealousies.  But,  after 
those  executions,  the  king  wrote  to  the  duke,  in  July  next, 
to  proclaim  an  absolute  amnesty  over  all  the  north  ;  which  was 
received  with  great  joy,  everybody  being  in  fear  of  himself: 
and  so  this  threatening  storm  was  dissipated  without  the  effu- 
sion of  much  blood,  save  what  the  sword  of  justice  drew.     At 


374  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

the  same  time,  the  king  of  Scotland  returning  from  France 
with  his  queen,  and  touching  on  the  coast  of  England,  many  of 
the  people  fell  down  at  his  feet,  praying  him  to  assist  them, 
and  he  should  have  all.  But  he  was,  it  seems,  bound  up  by 
the  French  king  ;  and  so  went  home,  without  giving  them  any  235 
encouragement.  And  thus  ended  this  rebellion,  which  was 
chiefly  carried  on  by  the  clergy,  under  the  pretence  of  religion. 
A  new  vi-        And  now  the  king  was  delivered  of  all  his  apprehensions, 

sitation  of      ,  .  °  . 

monas-       ttiat  he  had  been  in  for  some  years,  in  fear  or  stirs  at  home. 

tenes.  jjq^  they  being  now  happily  composed,  as  he  knew  it  would  so 
overawe  the  rest  of  his  discontented  subjects,  that  he  needed 
fear  nothing  from  them  for  a  great  while  ;  so  it  encouraged 
him  to  go  on  in  his  other  designs  of  suppressing  the  rest  of 
the  monasteries,  and  reforming  some  other  points  of  religion. 
Therefore  there  was  a  new  visitation  appointed  for  all  the 
monasteries  of  England.  And  the  visitors  were  ordered  to 
examine  all  things  that  related  either  to  their  conversation,  to 
their  affection  to  the  king  and  the  supremacy,  or  to  their 
superstition,  in  their  several  houses  ;  to  discover  what  cheats 
and  impostures  there  were,  either  in  their  images,  relics,  or 
other  miraculous  things,  by  which  they  had  drawn  people 
to  their  houses  on  pilgrimages,  and  gotten  from  them  any 
great  presents.  Also  to  try  how  they  were  affected  during 
the  late  commotions  ;  and  to  discover  every  thing  that  was 
amiss  in  them,  and  report  it  to  the  lord  vicegerent.  In  the 
records  of  the  whole  twenty-eighth  year  of  the  king's  reign, 
I  find  but  one  original  surrender  of  any  religious  house  :  the 

pSpeed,  p.  abbot  of  Furness  in  Lincolnshire,  valued37  at  nine  hundred  and 
sixty  pounds,  with  thirty  monks,  resigning  up  that  house  to  the 
king  on  the  ninth  of  April,  which  was  very  near  the  end  of  the 
year  of  the  king's  reign ;  for  it  commenced  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  April.  Two  other  surrenders  are  enrolled  that  year. 
The  one  was  of  Bermondsey  in  Surrey,  the  first  of  June38,  in  the 
twenty-eighth  of  the  king's  reign.  The  preamble  was,  that 
they  surrendered  in  hopes  of  greater  benevolence  from  the 
king.  But  this  was  the  effect  of  some  secret  practice,  and  not 
of  the  act  of  parliament :  for  it  was  valued  at  five  hundred  and 

'A7  [The  Monasticon  Anglicanum,  38  [The  date  of  the  surrender  was 
vol.  v.  p.  252,  gives  the  value  as  re-  Jan.  i,  1538.  See  Monast.  Angl. 
turned  26  Men. VIII.  £846.  7s.  iod.~]     vol.  v.  p.  92.] 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1537.)  375 

forty-eight  pounds39,  and  so  fell  not  within  the  act.  The  other  [Speed,  p. 
was  of  Bustlesham  or  Bishara,  in  Berkshire,  made  by  Barlow,  rjuiy  5.] 
bishop  of  St.  David's,  that  was  commendator  of  it,  and  a  great 
promoter  of  the  reformation.  It  was  valued  at  three  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  pounds40.  But  in  the  following  year  they  [Speed,  p. 
made  a  quicker  progress ;  and  found  strange  enormities  in  the  I043'J 
greater  houses.  It  seems  all  the  houses  under  two  hundred 
pounds  of  rent  were  not  yet  suppressed :  for  I  find  many 
within  that  value  afterwards  resigning  their  houses.  So  that 
I  am  inclined  to  believe,  that  the  first  visitation  being  made 
towards  the  suppression  of  the  lesser  monasteries,  and  that  (as 
appears  by  their  instructions)  being  not  to  be  finished  till  they 
had  made  a  report  of  what  they  had  done  to  the  court  of 
augmentations,  who  were,  after  the  report  made,  to  determine 
what  pensions  were  to  be  reserved  to  the  abbot  and  other 
officers ;  (which  report  was  to  be  made  in  the  octaves  of 
St.  Michael ;  and  after  that,  a  new  commission  was  to  be  given 
for  their  suppression;)  when  that  was  done,  they  went  no 
further  at  that  time.  So  that  I  cannot  think  there  were  many 
houses  suppressed  when  these  stirs  began :  and,  after  their 
first  rising,  it  is  not  likely  that  great  progress  would  be  made 
in  a  business  that  was  like  to  inflame  the  people  more,  and 
increase  the  number  of  the  rebels.  Neither  do  I  find  any 
houses  suppressed  by  virtue  of  the  former  act  of  parliament 
till  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  the  king's  reign. 

And  yet  they  made  no  great  haste  this  year.     For  there  Some  of 
236  are  but  twenty-one  surrenders  all  this  year,  either  in  the  rolls,  abb<fts  sur- 
or  augmentation-office.     And  now,  not  only  small  abbeys,  but  render 
greater  ones,  were  surrendered  to  the  king.     The  abbots  were  houses. 
brought  to  do  it  upon  several  motives.     Some  had  been  faulty 
during  the  late  rebellion,  and  were  liable  to  the  king's  dis- 
pleasure ;  and  these,  to  redeem  themselves,  compounded  the 
matter  by  a  resignation  of  their  house.     Others  began  to  like 
the  reformation,  and   that   made  them  the  more  willing  to 
surrender  their  houses  ;    such  as  Barlow,  bishop  of  St.  David's, 
who  not  only  surrendered  up  his  own  house  of  Bustlesham,  but 

39  [The  gross  income  was  £548.  Monast.  Angl.  vol.  vi.  p.  534,  is 
2s.  sfd.  See  Monast.  Angl.  vol.  v.  £329.  16*.  o§rf.  The  author  appears 
p.  93.]  to  have  taken  the  valuations  from 

40  [The    value    as    returned    in  Speed's  Catalogue.] 


376  THE   HISTORY   OF  [part  i. 

prevailed  on  many  others  to  do  the  like.  Others  were  con- 
victed of  great  disorders  in  their  conversation  ;  and  these,  not 
daring  to  stand  a  trial,  were  glad  to  accept  of  a  pension  for 
life,  and  deliver  up  their  house.  Others  were  guilty  of  making 
great  wastes  and  dilapidations.  For  they  all  saw  the  dissolu- 
tion of  their  houses  approaching,  and  so  every  one  was  induced 
to  take  all  the  care  he  could  to  provide  for  himself  and  his 
kindred  ;  so  that  the  visitors  found,  in  some  of  the  richest 
abbeys  of  England,  as  St.  Albans  and  Battle,  such  depreda- 
tions made,  that  at  St.  Alban's  an  abbot  could  not  subsist  any 
longer,  the  rents  were  so  low  ;  and  in  Battle,  as  all  their 
furniture  was  old  and  torn,  not  worth  an  hundred  pounds,  so 
both  in  house  and  chapel  they  had  not  four  hundred  marks' 
Worth  of  plate.  In  other  houses  they  found  not  above  twelve 
or  fifteen  ounces  of  plate,  and  no  furniture  at  all,  but  only  such 
things  as  they  could  not  embezzle,  as  the  walls  and  windows, 
bells  and  lead.  In  other  houses  the  abbot  and  monks  were 
glad  to  accept  of  a  pension  for  themselves  during  life  ;  and  so, 
being  only  concerned  for  their  own  particular  interest,  resigned 
their  house  to  the  king.  Generally,  the  monks  had  eight 
marks  a  year  pension,  till  they  were  provided  for.  The  abbots' 
pensions  were  proportioned  to  the  value  of  their  house,  and  to 
their  innocence.  The  abbots  of  St.  Albans  and  Tewkesbury 
had  four  hundred  marks  a  year  a-piece.  The  abbot  of  St. 
Edmundsbury  was  more  innocent ;  for  the  visitors  wrote  from 
thence,  that  they  could  find  no  scandals  in  that  house  :  so  he, 
it  seems,  was  not  easily  brought  to  resign  his  house  ;  and  had 
five  hundred  marks  pension  reserved  to  him.  And  for  their 
inferior  officers,  some  had  thirty,  some  ten,  or  eight,  and  the 
lowest  six  pounds  pension. 

In  other  places,  upon  a  vacancy  either  by  death  or  depriva- 
tion, they  did  put  in  an  abbot  only  to  resign  up  the  house. 
For,  after  the  king's  supremacy  was  established,  all  those 
abbots  that  had  been  formerly  confirmed  by  the  pope  were 
placed  in  this  manner  :  the  king  granted  a  conge  d'elire  to  the 
prior  and  convent,  with  a  missive  letter,  declaring  the  name  of 
the  person  whom  they  should  choose  ;  then  they  returned 
an  election  to  the  king,  Avho,  upon  that,  gave  his  assent  to  it 
by  a  warrant  under  the  great  seal,  which  was  certified  to  the 
lord  vicegerent ;    who   thereupon  confirmed  the  election,  and 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  377 

returned  him  back  to  the  king,  to  take  the  oaths  :  upon  which 
the  temporalities  were  restored.  Thus  all  the  abbots  were 
now  placed  by  the  king,  and  were  generally  picked  out  to 
serve  this  turn.  Others,  in  hope  of  advancement  to  bishoprics, 
or  to  be  suffragan  bishops,  as  the  inferior  sort  of  them  were 
made  generally,  were  glad  to  recommend  themselves  to  the 
king's  favour  by  a  quick  and  cheerful  surrender  of  their 
237  monastery.  Upon  some  of  these  inducements  it  was,  that  the 
greatest  number  of  the  religious  houses  were  resigned  to  the 
king,  before  there  was  any  act  of  parliament  made  for  their 
suppression.  In  several  houses  the  visitors,  who  were  generally 
either  masters  of  chancery,  or  auditors  of  the  court  of  augmen- 
tations, studied  not  only  to  bring  them  to  resign  their  houses, 
but  to  sign  confessions  of  their  past  lewd  and  dissolute  lives. 
Of  these  there  is  only  one  now  extant ;  which,  it  is  like, 
escaped  the  general  razure  and  destruction  of  all  papers  of  that 
kind  in  queen  Mary's  time.  But,  from  the  letters  that  I  have 
seen,  I  perceive  there  were  such  confessions  made  by  many 
other  houses.  That  confession  of  the  prior  and  Benedictines  of  Confes- 
St.  Andrew's  in  Northampton  is  to  be  seen  in  the  records  of  the  ^fid° 
court  of  augmentations  :  in  which,  with  the  most  aggravating  crimes 
expressions  that  could  be  devised,  they  acknowledged  their  geverai 
past  ill  life,  "  for  which  the  pit  of  hell  was  ready  to  swallow  houses. 
"  them  up.  They  confessed  that  they  had  neglected  the 
"  worship  of  God,  lived  in  idleness,  gluttony,  and  sensuality  ; 
"  with  many  other  woful  expressions  to  that  purpose." 

Other  houses,  as  the  monastery  of  Bitlesdcn,  resigned  with  Collect. 
this  preamble  ;  "  That  they  did  profoundly  consider,  that  the  ^^4. 
11  manner  and  trade  of  living,  which  they,  and  others  of  their 
"  pretended  religion,  had  for  a  long  time  followed,  consisted 
"  in  some  dumb  ceremonies,  and  other  constitutions  of  the 
"  bishops  of  Rome,  and  other  foreign  potentates,  as  the  abbot 
"  of  Cisteaux ;  by  which  they  were  blindly  led,  having  no 
"  true  knowledge  of  God's  laws ;  procuring  exemptions  from 
"  their  ordinary  and  diocesan,  by  the  power  of  the  bishop  of 
"  Rome  ;  and  submitting  themselves  wholly  to  a  foreign 
"  power,  who  never  came  hither  to  reform  their  abuses,  which 
"  were  now  found  among  them.  But  that  now,  knowing  the 
"  most  perfect  way  of  living  is  sufficiently  declared  by  Christ 
"  and  his  apostles ;   and  that  it  was  most  fit  for  them  to  be 


378  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

"  governed  by  the  king,  who  was  their  supreme  head  on  earth, 
"  they  submitted  themselves  to  his  mercy,  and  surrendered  up 
"  their  monastery  to  him  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  September  in 
"  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  reign/'  This  writing  was  signed 
by  the  abbot,  the  sub-prior,  and  nine  monks.  There  are  five 
other  surrenders  to  the  same  purpose  ;  by  the  Gray  and  White 
friars  of  Stamford,  the  Gray  friars  of  Coventry,  Bedford,  and 
Aylesbury,  yet  to  be  seen.  Some  are  resigned  upon  this  pre- 
amble, "  That  they  hoped  the  king  would  of  new  found  their 
"  house :  which  was  otherwise  like  to  be  ruined,  both  in  spirit- 
"  uals  and  temporals."  So  did  the  abbot  of  Chertsey  in  Sur- 
rey, with  fourteen  monks,  on  the  fourteenth  of  July,  in  the 
[Speed,  p.  twenty-ninth  year  of  this  reign ;  whose  house  was  valued  at 
1078.]  seven  hundred  and  forty-four  pounds.  I  have  some  reason  to 
think  that  this  abbot  was  for  the  reformation,  and  intended  to 
have  had  his  house  new  founded,  to  be  a  house  of  true  and 
well  regulated  devotion.  And  so  I  find  the  prior  of  Great 
Malvern  in  Worcestershire  offered  such  a  resignation :  he 
was  recommended  by  bishop  Latimer  to  Cromwell,  with  an 
earnest  desire  that  his  house  might  stand,  not  in  monkery,  but 
so  as  to  be  converted  to  preaching ,  study,  and  prayer.  And 
the  good  prior  was  willing  to  compound  for  his  house  by  a 
present  of  five  hundred  marks  to  the  king,  and  of  two  hundred 
to  Cromwell.  He  is  commended  for  being  an  old  worthy  man, 
a  good  housekeeper,  and  one  that  daily  fed  many  poor  people.  238 
To  this  Latimer  adds  :  Alas,  my  good  lord  !  Shall  ive  not  see 
two  or  three  in  every  shire  changed  to  such  remedy4'1  ? 

But  the  resolution  was  taken  once  to  extirpate  all.  And 
therefore,  though  the  visitors  interceded  earnestly  for  one  nun- 
nery in  Oxfordshire,  Godstow,  where  there  was  great  strict- 
ness of  life,  and  to  which  most  of  the  young  gentlewomen  of 
the  country  were  sent  to  be  bred ;  so  that  the  gentry  of  the 
country  desired  the  king  would  spare  the  house ;  yet  all  was 
uneffectual.  • 

The  form  The  general  form  in  which  most  of  these  resignations  begin, 
surrenders  *s>  "  That  the  abbot  and  brethren,  upon  full  deliberation,  cer- 
Collect.       "  tain  knowledge,  of  their  own  proper  motion,  for  certain  just 

Numb.  3.    a  ant|  reasonable  causes,  specially  movine;  them  in  their  souls 

sect.  1.  '    1  J  is 

41  [This  letter,  dated  Dec.  13,  has  been  printed  by  Strype  in  his  Memo- 
rials, vol.  i.  p.  259.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  379 

"  and  consciences,  did  freely,  and  of  their  own  accord,  give 
"  and  grant  their  houses  to  the  king."  Others,  it  seems,  did 
not  so  well  like  this  preamble ;  and  therefore  did,  without  any 
reason  or  preamble,  give  away  their  houses  to  the  visitors,  as 
feoffees  in  trust  for  the  king's  use.  And  thus  they  went  on, 
procuring  daily  more  surrenders.  So  that,  in  the  thirtieth 
year  of  the  king's  reign,  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty-nine 
resignations  enrolled,  of  which  the  originals  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty-five  do  yet  remain.  And  for  the  reader's  further 
satisfaction,  he  shall  find,  in  the  Collection  at  the  end  of  this  Collect, 
book,  the  names  of  all  these  houses  so  surrendered,  with  other  sect  ' 3* 
particulars  relating  to  them,  which  would  too  much  weary  him, 
if  inserted  in  the  thread  of  this  work.  But  there  was  no  law 
to  force  any  to  make  such  resignations :  so  that  many  of  the 
great  abbots  would  not  comply  with  the  king  in  this  matter, 
and  stood  it  out  till  after  the  following  parliament,  that  was 
in  the  thirty-first  year  of  his  reign. 

It  was  questioned  by  many,  whether  these  surrenders  could  Divers 
be  good  in  law,  since  the  abbots  were  but  trustees  and  tenants  awt"18 
for  life.     It  was  thought  they  could  not  absolutely  alienate  these. 
and  give  away  their  house  for  ever.    But  the  parliament  after- 
wards declared  the  resignations  were  good  in  law  :    for,  by 
their  foundations,  all  was  trusted  to  the  abbot  and  the  senior 
brethren  of  the  house ;  who  putting  the  convent-seal  to  any 
deed,  it  was  of  force  in  law.     It  was  also  said,  that  they,  thus 
surrendering,  had  forfeited  their  charters  and  foundations  ; 
and  so  the  king  might  seize  and  possess  them  with  a  good  title, 
if  not  upon  the  resignation,  yet  upon  forfeiture.     But  others 
thought,  that,  whatsoever  the  nicety  of  law  might  give  the 
king,  yet  there  was  no  sort  of  equity  in  it,  that  a  few  trustees, 
who  were  either  bribed,  or  frighted,  should  pass  away  that 
which  was  none  of  theirs,  but  only  given  them  in  trust,  and 
for  life.      Other  abbots  were  more  roughly  handled.      The  Some  ab- 
prior  of  Woburn  was  suspected  of  favouring  the  rebels;   of  tainted of 
being  against  the  king's  supremacy,  and  for  the  pope's ;  and  treason. 
of  being  for  the  general  council,  then  summoned  to  Mantua. 
And  he  was  dealt  with  to  make  a  submission  and  acknowledg- 
ment.    In  an  account  of  a  long  conference  which  he  had  with 
a  privy  counsellor,  under  his  own  hand,  I  find  that  the  great 
thing  which  he  took  offence  at  was,  that  Latimer,  and  some 


380  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

other  bishops,  preached  against  the  veneration  of  the  blessed 
Virgin,  and  the  other  saints  ;  and  that  the  English  Bible,  then 
set  out,  differed  in  many  things  from  the  Latin :  with  several 
lesser  matters.  So  that  they  looked  on  their  religion  as 
changed  ;  and  wondered  that  the  judgments  of  God  upon  239 
queen  Anne  had  not  terrified  others  from  going  on  to  subvert 
the  faith  :  yet  he  was  prevailed  with,  and  did  again  submit  to 
the  king,  and  acknowledged  his  supremacy  ;  but  he  afterwards 
joined  himself  to  the  rebels,  and  was  taken  with  them,  together 
[Speed,  p.  with  the  abbot  of  Whalley,  and  two  monks  of  his  house ;  and 
1026.]  tjie  a])00fc  of  Jervaux,  with  a  monk  of  his  house ;  and  the  abbot 
of  Sallay,  in  Lancashire,  with  the  prior  of  that  house  ;  and  the 
prior  of  Burlington ;  who  were  all  attainted  of  high  treason, 
and  executed.  The  abbots  of  Glastonbury  and  Reading  were 
men  of  great  power  and  wealth :  the  one  was  rated  at  three 
thousand  five  hundred  and  eight  pounds,  and  the  other  at  two 
[Ibid.  pp.  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixteen  pounds.  They,  seeing  the 
1077  auc  storm  \\\ie  t0  break  out  on  themselves,  sent  a  great  deal  of  the 
plate  and  money  that  they  had  in  their  house  to  the  rebels  in 
the  north ;  which  being  afterwards  discovered,  they  were  at- 
tainted of  high  treason  a  year  after  this  :  but  1  mention  it 
here  for  the  affinity  of  the  matter.  Further  particulars  about 
the  abbot  of  Reading  I  have  not  yet  discovered.  But  there  is 
an  account  given  to  Cromwell  of  the  proceedings  against  the 
abbot  of  Glastonbury  in  two  letters  which  I  have  seen  :  the 
one  was  writ  by  the  sheriff  of  the  county ;  the  other  by  sir 
John  Russell,  who  was  present  at  his  trial,  and  was  reputed  a 
man  of  as  great  integrity  and  virtue  as  any  in  that  time ; 
which  he  seems  to  have  left  as  an  inheritance  to  that  noble 
family  that  has  descended  from  him.  These  inform,  that  he 
was  indicted  of  burglary,  as  well  as  treason,  for  having  broken 
the  house  in  his  monastery  whore  the  plate  was  kept,  and 
taken  it  out ;  which,  as  sir  William  Thomas  says,  was  sent  to 
the  rebels.  The  evidence  being  brought  to  the  jury,  who  (as 
sir  John  Russell  writes)  were  as  good  and  worthy  men  as  had 
ever  been  on  any  jury  in  that  county,  they  found  him  guilty. 
He  was  carried  to  the  place  of  execution,  near  his  own  mon- 
astery ;  where  (as  the  sheriff  writes)  he  acknowledged  his 
guilt,  and  begged  God  and  the  king  pardon  for  it.  The  abbot 
»>('  Colchester  was  also  attainted  of  high  treason.     What  the 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  381 

particulars  were,  I  cannot  tell :  for  the  record  of  their  attain- 
ders is  lost.     But  some  of  our  own  writers  deserve  a  severe  [Hall, 
censure,  who  write,  It  was  for  denying  the  king's  supremacy:  &8i"' 
whereas,  if  they  had  not  undertaken  to  write  the  history  with-  ii.  p.  467.] 
out  any  information  at  all,  they  must  have  seen  that  the  whole 
clergy,  but  most  particularly  the  abbots,  had  over  and  over 
again  ackowledged  the  king's  supremacy. 

For  clearing  which,  and  discovering  the  impudence  of  San- [Sanders,  p. 
ders'  relation  of  this  matter,  I  shall  lay  before  the  reader  the  I34_I4°J 
evidences  that  I  find  of  the  submission  of  these,  and  all  the 
other  abbots,  to  the  king's  supremacy.     First,  in  the  convoca- 
tion, in  the  twenty-second  year  of  this  reign,  they  all  acknow- 
ledged the  king   supreme  head  of  the    church   of  England. 
They  did  all  also  swear  to  maintain  the  act  of  the  succession 
of  the  crown,  made  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  reign,  in 
which  the  pope's  power  was  plainly  condemned :    for,  in  the 
proceedings  against  More  and  Fisher,  it  was  frequently  re- 
peated to  them,  that  all  the  clergy  had  sworn  it.     It  is  also 
entered  in  the  Journal  of  the  house  of  lords,  that  all  the  mem-  [journals 
bers  of  both  houses  swore  it  at  their  breaking  up :    and  the     Lords, 

o       i  p.  82. J 

same  Journals  inform  us,  that  the  abbots  of  Colchester  and 
240  Reading  sat  in  that  parliament ;  and  as  there  was  no  protesta- 
tion made  against  any  of  the  acts  passed  in  that  session,  so  it 
is  often  entered,  that  the  acts  were  agreed  to  by  the  unanimous 
consent  of  the  lords.  It  appears  also,  by  several  original  let- 
ters, that  the  heads  of  all  the  religious  houses  in  England  had 
signed  that  position,  That  the  pope  had  no  more  jurisdiction 
in  this  kingdom  than  any  foreign  bishop  whatsoever.  And  it 
was  rejected  by  none  but  some  Carthusians,  and  Franciscans 
of  the  Observance,  who  wore  proceeded  against  for  refusing  to 
acknowledge  it.  When  they  were  so  pressed  in  it,  none  can 
imagine  that  a  parliamentary  abbot  would  have  been  dispensed 
with.  And  in  the  last  parliament,  in  which  the  second  oath 
about  the  succession  to  the  crown  was  enacted,  it  was  added, 
That  they  should  also  swear  the  king  to  be  the  supreme  head 
of  the  church.  The  abbots  of  Glastonbury  and  Reading  were 
then  present,  as  appears  by  the  Journals,  and  consented  to  it : 
so  little  reason  there  is  for  imagining  that  they  refused  that,  or 
any  other  compliance  that  might  secure  them  in  their  abbeys. 
In  particular,  the  abbot  of  Reading  had  so  got  into  Crom- 


!382 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Mar.  1 1 . 
Cott.  MSS. 
Cleop.  E. 
iv.  fol.  58.] 


Collect, 
Numb.  8. 


[Cap.  13. 

Statutes, 
vol.  iii. 
p.  509.] 


well's  good  opinion,  that,  in  some  differences  between  him  and 
Shaxton,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  that  was  Cromwell's  creature,  he 
had  the  better  of  the  bishop.  Upon  which  Shaxton,  who  was 
a  proud  ill-natured  man,  wrote  an  high  expostulating  letter  to 
Cromwell4-,  "  complaining  of  an  injunction  he  had  granted 
"  against  him  at  the  abbot's  desire.  He  also  shewed,  that,  in 
"  some  contests  between  him  and  his  residontiaries,  and  be- 
"  tween  him  and  the  mayor  of  Salisbury,  Cromwell  was  always 
"  against  him :  he  likewise  challenged  him  for  not  answering 
"  his  letters.  He  tells  him,  God  will  judge  him  for  abusing 
"  his  power  as  he  did :  he  prays  God  to  have  pity  on  him,  and 
"  to  turn  his  heart ;  with  a  great  deal  more  provoking  lan- 
"  guage."  He  also  adds  many  insolent  praises  of  himself; 
and  his  whole  letter  is  as  extravagant  a  piece  of  vanity  and 
insolence  as  ever  I  saw.  To  this  Cromwell  wrote  an  answer, 
that  shews  him  to  have  been  indeed  a  great  man.  The  reader 
will  find  it  in  the  Collection,  and  see  from  it  how  modestly  and 
discreetly  he  carried  his  greatness. 

But  how  justly  soever  these  abbots  were  attainted,  the  seiz- 
ing on  their  abbey-lands,  pursuant  to  those  attainders,  was 
thought  a  great  stretch  of  law  ;  since  the  offence  of  an  ecclesi- 
astical incumbent  is  a  personal  thing,  and  cannot  prejudice  the 
church ;  no  more  than  a  secular  man,  who  is  in  an  office,  does, 
by  being  attainted,  bring  any  diminution  of  the  rights  of  his 
office  on  his  successors.  It  is  true,  there  were  some  words 
cast  into  the  thirteenth  act  of  the  parliament,  in  the  twenty- 
sixth  year  of  this  reign,  by  which  divers  offences  were  made 
treason,  that  seemed  to  have  been  designed  for  such  a  purpose. 
The  words  are,  that  whatsoever  lands  any  traitor  had  of  any 
estate  of  inheritance  in  use  or  possession,  by  any  right,  title, 
or  means,  should  be  forfeited  to  the  king.  By  which,  as  it  is 
certain,  estates  in  tail  were  comprehended,  so  the  lands  that 
any  traitor  had  in  possession  or  use  seem  to  be  included ;  and 
that  the  rather,  because,  by  some  following  words,  their  heirs 
and  successors  are  for  ever  excluded.  This  either  was  not 
thought  on  when  the  bishop  of  Rochester  was  attainted,  or 


42  This  letter  has  been  printed  by 
Strype  in  his  Ecclesiastical  Memo- 
rials, vol.  i.  Appendix,  p.  153.  It 
does  not  precisely  answer  to  hUhop 


Burnet's  description,  being  written 
in  a  temperate  style.  Neither  has 
Burnet  correctly  represented  the 
facts.] 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1538.)  383 

241  perhaps  was  not  claimed ;  since  the  king  intended  not  to  lessen 
the  number  of  bishoprics,  but  rather  to  increase  them.  Be- 
sides, the  words  of  the  statute  seem  only  to  belong  to  an  estate 
of  inheritance ;  within  which  church  benefices  could  not  be 
included  without  a  great  force  put  on  them.  It  is  true,  the 
word  successor  favoured  these  seizures  ;  except  that  be  thought 
an  expletory  word,  put  in  out  of  form,  but  still  to  be  limited 
to  an  estate  of  inheritance.  That  word  does  also  import,  that 
such  criminals  might  have  successors.  But  if  the  whole  abbey 
was  forfeited,  these  abbots  could  have  no  successors.  Yet,  it 
seems,  the  seizures  of  these  abbeys  were  founded  on  that  sta- 
tute ;  and  this  stretch  of  the  law  occasioned  that  explanation, 
which  was  added,  of  the  words  estate  of  inheritance,  in  the  [Cap.  n. 
statute  made  in  Edward  the  Sixth's  reign  about  treasons :  vol  iv>  ' 
where  it  is  expressed,  that  traitors  should  forfeit  to  the  crown  HS-] 
what  lands  they  had  of  any  estate  of  inheritance :  to  which  is 
added,  in  their  own  right ;  it  seems,  on  design  to  cut  off  all 
pretence  for  such  proceeding  for  the  future,  as  had  been  in 
this  reign.  But  if  there  was  any  illegality  in  these  seizures, 
the  following  parliament  did  at  least  tacitly  justify  them :  for 
they  excepted  out  of  the  provisos  made  concerning  the  abbeys 
that  were  suppressed,  such  as  had  been  forfeited  and  seized  [Ibid.  vol. 
on  by  any  attainders  of  treason.  m'  p' 734"-* 

Another  surrender  is  not  unlike  these,  but  rather  less  justi-  [Cotton 
fiable.  Many  of  the  Carthusian  monks  of  London  were  exe-cieo*Eiv 
cuted  for  their  open  denying  of  the  king's  supremacy,  and  for  fol.  217.] 
receiving  books  from  foreign  parts  against  his  marriage,  and 
other  proceedings  :  divers  also  of  the  same  house,  that  favoured 
them,  but  so  secretly,  that  clear  proof  could  not  be  found  to 
convict  them,  were  kept  prisoners  in  their  cells  till  they  died. 
But  the  prior  was  a  worthy  man,  of  whom  Thomas  Bedyll,  one 
of  the  visitors,  writes,  that  he  ivas  a  man  of  such  charity  that 
he  had  not  seen  the  like,  and  that  the  eyes  of  the  people  were 
much  on  that  house ;  and  therefore  he  advised,  that  the  house 
might  be  converted  to  some  good  use.  But  the  prior  was  made 
to  resign,  with  this  preamble,  "  That  many  of  that  house  had 
"  offended  the  king,  so  that  their  goods  might  be  justly  con- 
"  fiscated,  and  themselves  adjudged  to  a  severe  death :  which 
"  they  desired  to  avoid,  by  an  humble  submission  and  sur- 
"  render  of  their  house  to  the  king."     But  there  were  great 


384  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

complaints  made  of  the  visitors,  as  if  they  had  practised  with 
the  ahbots  and  priors  to  make  these  surrenders  ;  and  that 
they  had  conspired  with  them  to  cheat  the  king,  and  had  pri- 
vately embezzled  most  of  the  plate  and  furniture.  The  abbess 
of  Chepstow  *3  complained  in  particular  of  doctor  London,  one 
of  the  visitors,  that  he  had  been  corrupting  her  nuns ;  and 
generally  it  was  cried  out  on,  that  underhand  and  ill  practices 
were  used.  Therefore,  to  quiet  these  reports,  and  to  give 
some  colour  to  justify  what  they  were  about,  all  the  foul 
stories  that  could  be  found  out  were  published  to  defame  these 
houses.  Battle  abbey  was  represented  to  be  a  little  Sodom ; 
[Speed,  p.  so  was  Christ  Church  in  Canterbury,  with  several  other  houses. 
1027. j  Uut  for  whoredom  and  adultery  they  found  instances  without 
number  ;  and  of  many  other  unnatural  practices  and  secret 
lusts,  with  arts  to  hinder  conceptions  and  make  abortions.  But 
no  story  became  so  public,  as  a  discovery  made  of  the  prior  of 
the  Crossed  friars  in  London ;  who,  on  a  Friday,  at  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  day,  was  found  in  bed  with  a  whore.  Pie  fell  242 
down  on  his  knees,  and  prayed  those  who  surprised  him  not 
to  publish  his  shame :  but  they  had  a  mind  to  make  some  ad- 
vantage by  it,  and  asked  him  money.  He  gave  them  thirty 
pounds  which  he  protested  was  all  he  had ;  but  he  promised 
them  thirty  pounds  more  :  yet,  failing  in  the  payment,  a  suit 
followed  on  it :  and  in  a  bill  which  I  have  seen,  given  to  Crom- 
well, then  master  of  the  rolls,  the  case  is  related. 
The  su-  But  all  the  stories  of  this  kind  served  only  to  disgrace  those 

and  cheats  ^bots  or  monks  that  were  so  faulty.  And  the  people  gene- 
of  these  rally  said,  these  were  personal  crimes,  which  ought  to  be 
covered.  punished  :  but  they  were  no  way  satisfied  with  the  justice  of 
the  king's  proceedings  against  whole  houses  for  the  faults  of  a 
few.  Therefore  another  way  was  thought  on,  which  indeed 
proved  more  effectual,  both  for  recovering  the  people  out  of 
the  superstitious  fondness  they  had  for  their  images  and  relics, 
and  for  discovering  the  secret  impostures  that  had  been  long 
practised  in  these  houses.  And  this  was,  to  order  the  visitors 
to  examine  well  all  the  relics  and  feigned  images,  to  which 
pilgrimages  were  wont  to  be  made.     In  this,  doctor  London 

[Sept.  i  8.     did  great  service.     From  Reading  he  writes,  "  That  the  chief 
Cott.  MSS. 

4;i  [This  is  a  mistake  for  Godstow.     See  Cotton  MSS.  Cleop.  E.  iv. 
fol.  228.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1538.)  385 

"  relics  of  idolatry  in  the  nation  were  there :    an  angel  with  Cleop.  E. 
"  one  wing,  that  brought  over  the  spear's  head  that  pierced  1V'  0-22;?' 
"  our  Saviour's  side.     To  which  he  adds,  a  long  inventory  of 
"  their  other  relics ;  and  says,  there  were  as  many  more  as 
"  would  till  four  sheets  of  paper.     He  also  writes  from  other  [Ibid.  fol. 
"  places,  that  he  had  every  where  taken  down  their  images         ' 
-'  and  trinkets."     At  St.  Edmundsbury,  as  John  ap  Rice  in-  lIbid-  fol- 
formed,  they  found  some  of  the  coals  that  roasted  St.  Lawrence, 
the  parings  of  St.  Edmund's  toes,  St.  Thomas  Beckefs  pen- 
knife and  boots,  with  as  many  pieces  of  the  cross  of  our  Saviour 
as  would  make  a  large  whole  cross.     They  had  also  relics 
against  rain,  and  for  hindering  weeds  to  spring.     But  to  pur- 
sue this  further  were  endless ;  the  relics  were  so  innumerable. 
And  the  value  which  the  people  had  of  them  may  be  gathered 
from  this  ;  that  a  piece  of  St.  Andrew's  finger,  set  in  an  ounce  [Ibid.  fol. 
of  silver,  was  laid  to  pledge  by  the  house  of  Westacre  for  forty  21    J 
pounds,  but  the  visitors,  when  they  suppressed  that  house,  did 
not  think  fit  to  redeem  it  at  so  high  a  rate44. 

For  their  images,  some  of  them  were  brought  to  London,  Images 
and  were  there,  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  broken'. 
people,  broken ;    that  they  might  be  fully  convinced  of  the  [Speed, 
juggling  impostures  of  the  monks.      And  in  particular,  the  p'  T°2   ) 
crucifix  of  Boxley  in  Kent,  commonly  called  the  rood  of  grace; 
to  which  many  pilgrimages  had  been  made,  because  it  was  ob- 
served sometimes  to  bow,  and  to  lift  itself  up ;  to  shake,  and 
to  stir  head,  hands,  and  feet ;  to  roll  the  eyes,  move  the  lips, 
and  bend  the  brows :  all  which  were  looked  on  by  the  abused 
multitude  as  the  effects  of  a  divine  power.     These  were  now 
publicly  discovered  to  have  been  cheats  :  for  the  springs  were 
shewed,  by  which  all  these  motions  were  made.     Upon  which 
John  Hilsey,  then  bishop  of  Rochester,  made  a  sermon,  and 
broke  the  rood  in  pieces.     There  was  also  another  famous 
imposture  discovered  at  Hales  in  Gloucestershire;  where  the 
blood  of  Christ  was  shewed  in  a  vial  of  crystal,  which  the 
people  sometimes  saw,  but  sometimes  they  could  not  see  it :  so 
243  they  were  made  believe,  that  they  were  not  capable  of  so  sig- 

44  [All  these  letters   have   been  asteries,'  published  by  the  Camden 

printed  in  the  volume  of  '  Letters  Society  in  1843.] 
relating  to  the  suppression  of  Mon- 

BURNET,  PART  I.  C  C 


386  THE   HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

nal  a  favour,  as  long  as  they  were  in  mortal  sin ;  and  so  they 

II  pele-       continued  to  make  presents,  till  they  bribed  Heaven  to  give 

glese.     "     tnem  tne  s'Snt  °f  s0  blessed  a  relic.     This  was  now  discovered 

[quoted  by  ^0  have  been  the  blood  of  a  duck,  which  they  renewed  every 

p.  494.] '     week  :  and  the  one  side  of  the  vial  was  so  thick  that  there  was 

no  seeing  through  it,  but  the  other  was  clear  and  transparent ; 

and  it  was  so  placed,  near  the  altar,  that  one  in  a  secret  place 

behind  could  turn  either  side  of  it  outward.     So  when  they 

had  drained  the  pilgrims  that  came  thither  of  all  they  had 

brought  with  them,  then  they  afforded  them  the  favour  of 

turning  the  clear  side  outward;  who  upon  that  went  home 

very  well  satisfied  with  their  journey,  and  the  expense  they 

had  been  at.     There  was  brought  out  of  Wales  a  huge  image 

of  wood,  called  Darvellgadarn,  of  which  one  Ellis  Price,  visitor 

[Cott.MSS.  of  the  diocese  of  St.  Asaph,  gave  this  account,  on  the  sixth  of 

STs']'^'  APri1'  1537;    "  That  tlie  PeoPle  of  the  countr7  had  a  STeat 
"  superstition  for  it,  and  many  pilgrimages  were  made  to  it : 

"  so  that,  the  day  before  he  wrote,  there  were  reckoned  to  be 
"  above  five  or  six  hundred  pilgrims  there :  some  brought 
"  oxen  and  cattle,  and  some  brought  money ;  and  it  was  gene- 
"  rally  believed,  that,  if  any  offered  to  that  image,  he  had 
[Hall,  p.  u  power  to  deliver  his  soul  from  hell."  So  it  was  ordered  to 
8z6'-'  be  brought  to  London,  where  it  served  for  fuel  to  burn  friar 

Forest.  There  was  an  huge  image  of  our  Lady  at  Worcester, 
that  was  had  in  great  reverence ;  which,  when  it  was  stript 
of  some  veils  that  covered  it,  was  found  to  be  the  statue  of  a 
bishop. 
[Cott.MSS.  Barlow,  bishop  of  St.  David's,  did  also  give  many  advertise- 
SlS'^T'  ments  of  the  superstition  of  his  country,  and  of  the  clergy  and 
monks  of  that  diocese,  who  were  guilty  of  heathenish  idolatry, 
gross  impiety  and  ignorance,  and  of  abusing  the  people  with 
many  evident  forgeries :  about  which,  he  said,  he  had  good 
[Ibid.  fol.  evidence  when  it  should  be  called  for.  But  that  which  drew 
most  pilgrims  and  presents  in  those  parts  was,  an  image  of 
our  Lady  with  a  taper  in  her  hand ;  which  was  believed  to 
have  burnt  nine  years,  till  one  forswearing  himself  upon  it,  it 
went  out ;  and  was  then  much  reverenced  and  worshipped. 
He  found  all  about  the  cathedral  so  full  of  superstitious  con- 
ceits, that  there  was  no  hope  of  working  on  them ;  therefore 


and 
260.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  387 

he  proposed  the  translating  the  episcopal  seat  from  St.  David's 
to  Carmarthen ;  which  he  pressed  by  many  arguments,  and  in 
several  letters,  but  with  no  success.  Then  many  rich  shrines 
of  our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  of  Ipswich,  and  Islington,  with  a 
great  many  more,  were  brought  up  to  London,  and  burnt  by 
Cromwell's  orders. 

But  the  richest  shrine  in  England  was  that  of  Thomas  Thomas 
Becket,  called  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  the  Martyr :  who  ^inl 
being  raised  up  by  king  Henry  the  Second  to  the  archbishop-  broken. 
ric  of  Canterbury,  did  afterwards  give  that  king  much  trouble,  [Herbert, 
by  opposing  his  authority,  and  exalting  the  pope's.  And  though 
he  once  consented  to  the  articles  agreed  on  at  Clarendon,  for 
bearing  down  the  papal,  and  securing  the  regal  power ;  yet  he 
soon  after  repented  of  that  only  piece  of  loyalty  of  which  he 
was  gnilty  all  the  while  he  was  archbishop.  Pie  fled  to  the 
pope,  who  received  him  as  a  confessor  for  the  dearest  article 
244  of  the  Roman  belief:  the  king  and  kingdom  were  excommuni- 
cated, and  put  under  an  interdict  upon  his  account.  But  after- 
wards, upon  the  intercession  of  the  French  king,  king  Henry 
and  he  were  reconciled,  and  the  interdict  was  taken  off.  Yet  [Fox,  vol.  i. 
his  unquiet  spirit  could  take  no  rest ;  for  he  was  no  sooner  at  p"  2b~ sqq '* 
Canterbury,  than  he  began  to  embroil  the  kingdom  again  ; 
and  was  proceeding  by  censures  against  the  archbishop  of 
York,  and  some  other  bishops,  for  crowning  the  king's  son  in 
his  absence.  Upon  the  news  of  that,  the  king  being  then  in 
Normandy,  said,  If  he  had  faithful  servants,  he  would  not  be 
so  troubled  with  such  a  priest;  whereupon  some  zealous  or 
officious  courtiers  came  over  and  killed  him:  for  which,  as  the 
king  was  made  to  undergo  a  severe  penance,  so  the  monks 
were  not  wanting  in  their  ordinary  arts  to  give  out  manv 
miraculous  stories  concerning  his  blood.  This  soon  drew  a 
canonization  from  Rome  ;  and  he,  being  a  martyr  for  the 
papacy,  was  more  extolled  than  all  the  apostles  or  primitive 
saints  had  ever  been.  So  that,  for  three  hundred  years,  he 
was  accounted  one  of  the  greatest  saints  in  heaven,  as  may 
appear  from  the  accounts  in  the  ledger-books  of  the  offerings 
made  to  the  three  greatest  altars  in  Christ's  Church  in  Canter- 
bury. The  one  was  to  Christ,  the  other  to  the  Virgin,  and 
the  third  to  St.  Thomas.  In  one  year  there  was  offered  at 
Christ's  altar  three  pounds,  two  shillings  and  sixpence  ;  to  the 

c  c  2 


388 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  r. 


Somner's'M 

Antiquities 
of  Canter- 
bury, [p. 
428.] 


Virgin's  altar,  sixty-three  pounds,  five  shillings  and  sixpence; 
but  to  St.  Thomas'  altar,  eight  hundred  and  thirty-two  pounds, 
twelve  shillings  and  threepence.  But  the  next  year  the  odds 
grew  greater ;  for  there  was  not  a  penny  offered  at  Christ's 
altar,  and  at  the  Virgin's  only  four  pounds,  one  shilling  and 
eightpence ;  but  at  St.  Thomas',  nine  hundred  and  fifty -four 
pounds,  six  shillings  and  threepence.  By  such  offerings  it 
came  that  his  shrine  was  of  inestimable  value.  There  was  one 
stone  offered  there  by  Louis  the  Seventh  of  France,  who  came 
over  to  visit  it  in  a  pilgrimage,  that  was  believed  the  richest 
in  Europe.  Nor  did  they  think  it  enough  to  give  him  one 
day  in  the  calendar,  the  twenty -ninth  of  December ;  but  un- 
usual honours  were  devised  for  this  martyr  of  the  liberties  of 
the  church,  greater  than  any  that  had  been  given  to  the  mar- 
tyrs for  Christianity.  The  day  of  raising  his  body,  or,  as  they 
called  it,  of  his  translation,  being  the  seventh  of  July,  was  not 
only  a  holy  day,  but  every  fiftieth  year  there  was  a  jubilee  for 
fifteen  days  together,  and  indulgence  was  granted  to  all  that 
came  to  visit  his  shrine ;  as  appears  from  the  record  of  the 
sixth  jubilee  after  his  translation,  anno  1420  ;  which  bears, 
that  there  were  then  about  an  hundred  thousand  strangers 


[Wilkins, 
Cone.  iii. 
P-  835.] 


come  to  visit  his  tomb.  The  jubilee  began  at  twelve  o'clock 
on  the  vigil  of  the  feast,  and  lasted  fifteen  days.  By  such  arts 
they  drew  an  incredible  deal  of  wealth  to  his  shrine.  The 
riches  of  that,  together  with  his  disloyal  practices,  made  the 
kino;  resolve  both  to  unshrine  and  unsaint  him  at  once.  And 
then  his  skull,  which  had  been  much  worshipped,  was  found 
an  imposture  :  for  the  true  skull  was  lying  with  the  rest  of  his 
[Aug.  1 1.]  bones  in  his  grave.  The  shrine  was  broken  down,  and  carried 
away ;  the  gold  that  was  about  it  filling  two  chests,  which 
were  so  heavy,  that  they  were  a  load  to  eight  strong  men  to 
carry  them  out  of  the  church.  And  his  bones  were,  as  some 
say,  burnt ;  so  it  was  understood  at  Rome :  but  others  say, 
they  were  so  mixed  with  other  dead  bones,  that  it  would  have 
been  a  miracle  indeed  to  have  distinguished  them  afterwards. 
The  king  also  ordered  his  name  to  be  struck  out  of  the  calen- 
dar, and  the  office  for  his  festivity  to  be  dashed  out  of  all 
breviaries.  And  thus  was  the  superstition  of  England  to  images  245 
and  relics  extirpated. 
40  [Somner  (William).  The  Antiquities  of  Canterbury,  4to.  Lond.  1640.] 


book  iil]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  389 

Yet  the  king  took  care  to  qualify  the  distaste  which  the  New  arti- 
articles  published  the  former  year  had  given.     And  though  ^J^11* 
there  was  no  parliament  in  the  year  1537,  yet  there  was  a  published, 
convocation 4? ;  upon  the  conclusion  of  which,  there  was  printed 
an  explanation  of  the  chief  points  of  religion,  signed  by  nine- 
teen bishops48,  eight  archdeacons,  and  seventeen  doctors  of 
divinity* and  law.     In  which  there  was  an  exposition  of  the  [Wilkins, 
Creed,  the  seven   Sacraments,  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  p  83i  i ' 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  salutation  of  the  Virgin,  with  an  ac- 
count of  justification  and  purgatory.     But  this  work  was  put 
in  a  better  form  afterwards,  where  the  reader  will  find  a  more 
particular  account  of  it.     When  all  these  proceedings  of  the 
king's  were  known  at  Rome,  all  the  satirical  pens  there  were 
employed  to  paint  him  out  as  the  most  infamous  sacrilegious 
tyrant  that  ever  was.    They  represented  him  as  one  that  made  Invectives 
war  with  heaven,  and  the  saints  that  were  there :    that  com-  nf'TL; Je 
mitted  outrages  on  the  bodies  of  the  saints,  which  the  heathen-  edatRome. 
ish  Romans  would  have  punished  severely  for  any  that  com- 
mitted the  like  on  those  that  were  dead,  how  mean  or  bad 
soever  they  had  been.     All  his  proceedings  against  the  priests 
or  monks  that  were  attainted  and  executed  for  high  treason, 
were  represented  as  the  effects  of  savage  and  barbarous  cruelty. 
His    suppressing    the    monasteries,    and    devouring  what   the 
devotion  of  former  ages  had  consecrated  to  God  and  his  saints, 
was  called  ravenous  and  impious  sacrilege  ;  nor  was  there  any 
thing  omitted  that  could  make  him  appear   to  posterity  the 
blackest  tyrant  that  ever  wore  a  crown.     They  compared  him 
to  Pharaoh,  Nabuchodonosor,  Belshazzar,  Nero,  Domitian,  and 
Diocletian  ;    but   chiefly  to  Julian  the  Apostate.      This  last 
parallel  liked  them  best ;  and  his  learning,  his  apostasy,  and 
pretence  of  reforming,  were  all  thought  copied  from  Julian  ; 
only  they  said,  his  manners  were  worse.     These  things  Avere 
every  day  printed  at  Rome  ;   and  the  informations  that  were 
brought  out  of  England  were  generally  addressed  to  cardinal 
Pole,  whose  style  was  also  known  in  some  of  them.     All  which 

47  Not  a  convocation,  but  a  com-  and  nineteen  bishops.'  The  title  of 
mission  from  the  king  to  bishops  the  book,  to  the  preface  of  which 
and  other  learned  divines.  [S.]  the  signatures  are  added,  is  '  The 

48  Add 'both  the  archbishops  and  godly  and  pious  institution  of  a 
seventeen  bishops.  [S.]    [It  should  Christian  man.'] 

have   been    '  Both  the  archbishops 


390  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

possessed  the  king  with  the  deepest  and  most  implacable  hatred 
to  him  that  ever  he  bore  to  any  person ;  and  did  provoke  him 
to  all  these  severities  that  followed  on  his  kindred  and  family. 

But  the  malice  of  the  court  of  Home  did  not  stop  there. 
For  now  the  pope  published  all  these  thunders  which  he  had 
threatened  three  years  before.  The  bull  of  deposition  is 
printed  in  Cherubin's  Bullarium  Romanum  ;  which,  since 
many  have  the  confidence  to  deny  matters  of  fact,  though 
most  publicly  acted,  shall  be  found  in  the  Collection  papers. 
The  substance  of  it  is  as  follows  :  "  The  pope,  being  God's 
"  vicar  on  earth,  and,  according  to  Jeremy's  prophecy,  set 
"  over  nations  and  kingdoms,  to  root  out  and  destroy ;  and 
"  having  the  supreme  power  over  all  the  kings  in  the  wliole 
"  world ;  was  bound  to  proceed  to  due  correction  when  milder 
"  courses  were  ineffectual :  therefore,  since  king  Henry,  who 
"  had  been  formerly  a  defender  of  the  faith,  had  fallen  from 
"  it;  had,  contrary  to  an  inhibition  made,  put  away  his  queen, 
"  and  married  one  Anne  Boleyn,  and  had  made  impious  and 
"  hurtful  laws,  denying  the  pope  to  be  the  supreme  head  of 
"  the  church,  but  assuming  that  title  to  himself;  and  had  re-  246 
"  quired  all  his  subjects,  under  pain  of  death,  to  swear  it ;  and 
"  had  put  the  cardinal  of  Rochester  to  death,  because  lie 
"  would  not  consent  to  these  heresies  ;  and  by  all  these  things 
"  had  rendered  himself  unworthy  of  his  regal  dignity ;  and 
"  had  hardened  his  heart  (as  Pharaoh  did)  against  all  the 
"  admonitions  of  pope  Clement  the  Seventh :  therefore,  since 
"  these  his  crimes  were  so  notorious,  he,  in  imitation  of  what 
"  the  apostle  did  to  Elymas  the  magician,  proceeds  to  such 
"  censures  as  he  had  deserved ;  and,  with  the  advice  of  his 
"  cardinals,  does  first  exhort  him  and  all  his  complices  to  re- 
"  turn  from  their  errors,  to  annul  the  acts  lately  made,  and  to 
"  proceed  no  further  upon  them  :  which  he  requires  him  and 
"  them  to  do,  under  the  pains  of  excommunication  and  rebel- 
"  lion,  and  of  the  king's  losing  his  kingdom,  whom  he  required 
"  within  ninety  days  to  appear  at  Rome,  by  himself  or  proxy, 
"  and  his  complices  within  sixty  days,  to  give  an  account  of 
"  their  actions ;  otherwise  he  would  then  proceed  to  a  further 
"  sentence  against  them.  And  declares,  that  if  the  king  and 
"  his  complices  do  not  appear,  he  has  fallen  from  the  right  to 
"his  crown,  and  they  from  the  right  to  their  estates;    and 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  391 

"  when  they  die,  they  were  to  be  denied  Christian  burial. 
"  He  puts  the  whole  kingdom  under  an  interdict ;  and  declares 
"  all  the  king's  children  by  the  said  Anne,  and  the  children  of 
"  all  his  complices,  to  be  under  the  same  pains,  though  they 
"  be  now  under  age,  and  incapacitates  them  for  all  honours  or 
"  employments ;  and  declares  all  the  subjects  or  vassals  of  the 
"  king's,  or  his  complices,  absolved  from  all  oaths  or  obliga- 
"  tions  to  them,  and  requires  them  to  acknowledge  them  no 
"  more.  And  declares  him  and  them  infamous,  so  that  they 
"  might  neither  be  witnesses,  nor  make  wills.  He  requires  all 
"  other  persons  to  have  no  dealings  with  him  or  them,  neither 
"  by  trading,  nor  any  other  way,  under  the  pain  of  excommu- 
"  nication,  the  annulling  their  contracts,  and  the  exposing 
"  goods  so  traded  in  to  all  that  should  catch  them.  And  that 
"  all  clergymen  should,  within  five  days  after  the  expiration  of 
"  the  time  prefixed,  go  out  of  the  kingdom,  (leaving  only  so 
"  many  priests  as  would  be  necessary  for  baptizing  infants, 
"  and  giving  the  sacrament  to  such  as  died  in  penitence,)  under 
"  the  pains  of  excommunication  and  deprivation.  And  charges 
"  all  noblemen  and  others  in  his  dominions,  under  the  same 
"  pains,  to  rise  up  in  arms  against  him,  and  to  drive  him  out 
"  of  his  kingdom ;  and  that  none  should  take  arms  for  him,  or 
"  any  way  assist  him :  and  declares  all  other  princes  absolved 
"  from  any  confederacies  made,  or  to  be  made,  with  him ;  and 
"  earnestly  obtests  the  emperor  and  all  kings,  and  requires 
"  other  princes,  under  the  former  pains,  to  trade  no  more 
"  with  him ;  and  in  case  of  their  disobedience,  he  puts  their 
"  kingdoms  under  an  interdict.  And  requires  all  princes  and 
"  military  persons,  in  the  virtue  of  holy  obedience,  to  make 
"  war  upon  him,  and  to  force  hjm  to  return  to  the  obedience 
"  of  the  apostolic  see ;  and  to  seize  on  all  goods  or  merchan- 
"  dizes  belonging  to  the  king  or  his  complices,  wherever  they 
"  could  find  them ;  and  that  such  of  his  subjects  that  were 
"  seized  on,  should  be  made  slaves.  And  requires  all  bishops, 
"  three  days  after  the  time  that  was  set  down  was  elapsed,  to 
247  "  intimate  this  sentence  in  all  their  churches  with  putting  out 
"  of  candles,  and  other  ceremonies  that  ought  to  be  used,  in 
"  the  most  solemn  and  public  manner  that  might  be.  And  all 
"  who  hindered  the  publication  of  this  sentence  are  put  under 
"  the  same  pains.     He  ordained  this  sentence  to  be  affixed  at 


392  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  Rome,  Tournay,  and  Dunkcrque,  which  should  stand  for  a 
"  sufficient   publication  ;    and   concludes,   that  if  any   should 
"  endeavour  to  oppose,  or  enervate  any  of  the  premises,  he 
"  should  incur  the  indignation  of  Almighty  God,  and  the  holy 
"  apostles  St.  Peter  and  Paul.     Dated  at  Rome  the  thirtieth  of 
"  August  1535."     But  the  pope  found  the  princes  of  Christen- 
dom liked  the  precedent  of  using  a  king  in  that  manner  so  ill, 
[Dec.  17.     that  he  suspended  the  execution  of  this  bull  till  this  time,  that 
Council  of  the  suppression  of  abbeys,  and  the  burning  of  Thomas  Becket's 
Trent,  p.     bones49,  (for  it  was  so  represented  at  Rome,  though  our  writers 
say  they  were  buried,)  did  so  inflame  the  pope,  that  he  could 
forbear  no  longer  ;  and  therefore,  by  a  new  sentence,  he  did 
all  he  could  to  shake  him  in  his  throne. 

The  preamble  of  it  was,  "  That  as  our  Saviour  had  pity  on 
"  St.  Peter  after  his  fall,  so  it  became  St.  Peter's  successors  to 
"  imitate  our  Saviour  in  his  clemency  ;  and  that  therefore, 
"  though  he,  having  heard  of  king  Henry's  crimes,  had  pro- 
"  ceeded  to  a  sentence  against  him,  (here  the  former  bull  was 
"  recited,)  yet  some  other  princes,  who  hoped  he  might  be 
"  reclaimed  by  gentler  methods,  had  interposed  for  a  suspen- 
"  sion  of  the  sentence ;  and  he,  being  easy  to  believe  what  he 
"  so  earnestly  desired,  had  upon  their  intercession  suspended 
"  it.  But  now  he  found  they  had  been  deceived  in  their 
"  hopes,  and  that  he  grew  worse  and  worse ;  and  had  done 
"  such  dishonour  to  the  saints,  as  to  raise  St.  Thomas  of  Can- 
"  terbury's  body,  to  arraign  him  of  high  treason,  and  to  burn 
"  his  body,  and  sacrilegiously  to  rob  the  riches  that  had  been 
"  offered  to  his  shrine  :  as  also  to  suppress  St.  Austin's  abbey 
"  in  Canterbury ;  and  that,  having  thrust  out  the  monks, 
"  he  had  put  in  wild  beasts  into  their  grounds,  having  trans- 
"  formed  himself  into  a  beast.  Therefore  he  takes  off  the 
"  suspension,  and  publishes  the  bull,  commanding  it  to  be  ex- 
"  ecuted  :  declaring,  that  the  affixing  it  at  Dieppe,  or  Boulogne 
"  in  France,  at  St.  Andrew's  or  Callistren  (that  is,  Callstream, 
"  a  town  near  the  border  of  England)  in  Scotland,  or  Tuam  or 
"  Ardfert  in  Ireland,  or  any  two  of  these,  should  be  a  sufficient 
"  publication.  Dated  the  seventeenth  of  December,  anno 
"  Dom.1538." 

No  man  can  read  these  bulls,  but  he  must  conclude,  that  if 
49  Somner  saith  (p.  247),  that  Becket's  bones  were  burned  to  ashes.  [S.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1538.)  393 

the  pope  be  the  infallible  and  universal  pastor  of  the  church, 
whom  all  are  bound  to  obey,  he  has  a  full  authority  over  all 
kings  to  proceed  to  the  highest  censures  possible  :  and  since 
the  matters  of  fact,  enumerated  in  the  sentence  as  the  grounds 
of  it,  were  certainly  true,  then  the  pope  is  either  clothed  with 
the  power  of  deposing  princes  ;  or,  if  otherwise,  he  lied  to  the 
world  when  he  pretended  to  it  thus,  and  taught  false  doctrine, 
which  cannot  stand  with  infallibility :  and  the  pretended 
grounds  of  the  sentence,  as  to  matter  of  fact,  being  evidently 
true,  this  must  be  a  just  sentence  ;  and  therefore  all  that  acknow- 
ledged the  infallibility  of  that  see  were  bound  to  obey  it,  and 
all  the  rebellions  that  followed,  during  the  reign  of  the  king  or 
his  children,  were  founded  on  this  sentence,  and  must  be  justi- 
248  fied  by  it ;  otherwise  the  pope's  infallibility  must  fall  to  the 
ground.  But  this  was  to  be  said  for  the  pope,  that  though  he 
had  raised  the  several  branches  of  this  sentence  higher  than 
any  of  his  predecessors  had  ever  done,  yet,  as  to  the  main,  he 
had  very  good  and  authentic  precedents  for  what  he  did,  from 
the  depositions  of  emperors  or  kings,  that  were  made  by  former 
popes,  for  about  five  hundred  years  together.  This  I  thought 
needful  to  be  more  fully  opened,  because  of  the  present 50  cir- 
cumstances we  are  now  in  ;  since  hereby  every  one,  that  will 
consider  things,  must  needs  see,  that  the  belief  of  the  pope's 
infallibility  does  necessarily  infer  the  acknowledgment  of  their 
power  of  deposing  heretical  kings.  For  it  is  plain  the  pope 
did  this  ex  cathedra,  and  as  a  pastor  feeding  and  correcting 
his  flock. 

But,  not  content  with  this,  he  also  wrote  to  other  princes, 
inflaming  them  against  the  king ;  particularly  to  the  kings 
of  France  and  Scotland.     To  the  last  of  these  he  sent  a  breve,  Lesley, 

declaring   king;    Henry   a   heretic,    a    schismatic,    a    manifest  pist-  Scot- 

.  .  .      [p.  mo. 

adulterer,  a  public  murderer,  a  rebel,  and  convict  of  high  ed.  Edin. 

treason  against  him,  the  pope  his  lord;  for  which  crimes  he  l83°J 

had  deposed  him,  and  offered  his  dominions  to  him,  if  he  would 

go  and  invade  them.     And  thus  the  breach  between  him  and 

the  pope  was  past  reconciling ;  and  at  Rome  it  was  declared 

equally  meritorious  to  fight  against  him,  as  against  the  Turk. 

But  cardinal  Pole  made  it  more  meritorious  in  his  book.     Yet 

the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  had  now  lost  their  force ;  so  that 

w  [A.  D.  1679.] 


394  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

these  had  no  other  effect  but  to  enrage  the  king  more  against 
all  such  as  were  suspected  to  favour  their  interests,  or  to  hold 
any  correspondence  with  cardinal  Pole.  Therefore  he  first  pro- 
cured a  declaration  against  the  pope's  pretensions,  to  be  signed 
by  all  the  bishops  of  England  :  in  which,  after  they  had 
declared  against  the  pope's  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  upon  the 
The  clergy  grounds  formerly  touched,  they  concluded,  "  That  the  people 
declared11  "  ought  *°  De  instructed,  that  Christ  did  expressly  forbid  his 
against  "  apostles  or  their  successors  to  take  to  themselves  the  power 
"  of  the  sword,  or  the  authority  of  kings.  And  that,  if  the 
"  bishop  of  Rome,  or  any  other  bishop,  assumed  any  such 
"  power,  he  was  a  tyrant  and  usurper  of  other  men's  rights, 
"  and  a  subverter  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ."  This  was  sub- 
scribed by  nineteen  bishops,  (all  that  were  then  in  England,) 
and  twenty-five  doctors  of  divinity  and  law.  It  was  at  some 
time  before  May  1538:  for  Edward  Fox,  bishop  of  Hereford, 
who  was  one  that  signed  it,  died  the  eighth  of  May  that  year. 
There  was  no  convocation  called  by  writ  for  doing  this ;  for  as 
there  is  no  mention  of  any  such  writ  in  the  registers,  so,  if 
it  had  been  done  by  convocation,  Cromwell  had  signed  it  first ; 
but  his  hand  not  being  at  it,  it  is  more  probable  that  a  meeting 
of  the  clergy  was  called  by  the  king's  missive  letters,  or  that, 
as  was  once  done  before,  the  paper  was  drawn  at  London,  and 
sent  over  the  kingdom  to  the  episcopal  sees,  for  the  bishops' 
hands  to  it. 
Collect.  There  is  another  original  paper  extant,  signed  at  this  time 

by  eight  bishops ;  from  which  I  conjecture,  those  were  all  that 
were  then  about  London.  It  was  to  shew,  "  That,  by  the 
"  commission  which  Christ  gave  to  churchmen,  they  were  only 
"  ministers  of  his  gospel,  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  purity  of 
"  the  faith  :  but  that,  by  other  places  of  scripture,  the  authority 
"  of  Christian  princes  over  all  their  subjects,  as  well  bishops  249 
"  and  priests  as  others,  was  also  clear.  And  that  the  bishops 
"  and  priests  have  charge  of  souls  within  their  cures ;  power 
"  to  administer  sacraments,  and  to  teach  the  word  of  God  :  to 
"  the  which  word  of  God  Christian  princes  acknowledge  them- 
"  selves  subject ;  and  that,  in  case  the  bishops  be  negligent, 
'■'  it  is  the  Christian  prince's  office  to  see  them  do  their  duty." 
This  being  signed  by  John  Hilsey,  bishop  of  Rochester,  must 
be  after  the  year  1537,  in  which  he  was  consecrated ;  and 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  395 

Latimer  and  Shaxton  also  signing,  it  must  be  before  the  year 
1539,  in  which  they  resigned.  But  I  believe  it  was  signed  at 
the  same  time  that  the  other  was  ;  and  the  design  of  it  was,  to 
refute  those  calumnies  spread  at  Rome,  as  if  the  king  had 
wholly  suppressed  all  ecclesiastical  offices,  and  denied  them 
any  divine  authority,  making  them  wholly  dependent  on  the 
civil  power,  and  acting  by  commission  only  from  him.  And 
therefore  they  explained  the  limits  of  both  these  powers  in 
so  clear  and  moderate  a  way,  that  it  must  have  stopped  the 
mouths  of  all  opposers.  But  whether  there  was  any  public  use 
made  of  this  paper,  I  can  by  no  means  discover. 

*  *  I  have  seen  a  much  fuller  paper  concerning  orders  and 
ecclesiastical  functions,  (which  the  reader  will  find  in  the 
Collection,)  signed  by  Cromwell,  the  two  archbishops,  and  Collect. 
eleven  bishops,  and  twenty  divines  and  canonists,  declaring,  Num™(a' 
that  the  power  of  the  keys,  and  other  church  functions,  is 
formally  distinct  from  the  power  of  the  sword  :  that  this  power 
is  not  absolute,  but  to  be  limited  by  the  rules  that  are  in 
the  scripture,  and  is  ordained  only  for  the  edification  and  good 
of  the  church :  that  this  power  ought  to  be  still  preserved, 
since  it  was  given  by  Christ  as  the  mean  of  reconciling  sinners 
to  God.  Orders  were  also  declared  a  sacrament,  since  they 
consisted  of  an  outward  action  instituted  by  Christ,  and  an 
inward  grace  conferred  with  them  :  but  that  all  inferior  orders, 
janitors,  lectors,  &c.  were  brought  into  the  church  to  beautify 
and  adorn  it,  and  were  taken  from  the  temple  of  the  Jews  : 
and  that  in  the  New  Testament  there  is  no  mention  made 
but  of  deacons  or  ministers,  and  priests  or  bishops :  nor  is 
there  belonging  to  orders  any  other  ceremony  mentioned  in 
the  scripture  but  prayer  and  imposition  of  hands.  This  was 
signed  either  in  the  year  1537  or  1538;  since  it  is  subscribed 
both  by  John  Hilsey,  bishop  of  Rochester,  and  Edward  Fox, 
bishop  of  Hereford  ;  for  the  one  was  consecrated  in  1537,  and 
the  other  died  in  May  1538.  [May  8.] 

On  this  paper  I  will  add  two  remarks  ;  the  one  is,  that  after 
this  I  do  never  find  the  inferior  degrees  under  a  deacon  men- 
tioned in  this  church ;  so  it  seems  at  this  time  they  were  laid 
aside.     They  were  first  set  up  in  the  church  about  the  end  [Euseb. 
of  the  second,  or  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  in  the  W^' 

,  J  JiiCcle.s.  vi, 

middle   of  which   wc   find    both   Cornelius,    bishop    of  Rome,  p- 43-] 


396  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

[Cypr.  Ep.  and  St.  Cyprian,  mentioning  them  as  orders  that  were  then 
Id"  Oxon  established  ;  and  it  seems  they  were  designed  as  previous  steps 
1682.]  to  the  sacred  functions,  that  none  might  be  ordained  to  these 
but  such  as  had  been  long  before  separated  from  a  secular 
state  of  life,  and  had  given  good  proofs  of  themselves  in  these 
lower  degrees.  But  it  turned  in  the  church  of  Rome  to  be 
only  a  matter  of  form ;  and  many  took  the  first  tonsure,  that 
they  might  be  exempted  from  the  secular  power,  and  be 
qualified  for  commendams,  and  some  other  worldly  advantages, 
to  which  these  lower  orders  were  sufficient  by  those  rules 
which  the  canonists  had  brought  in. 

Another  thing  is,  that,  both  in  this  writing,  and  in  the 
Necessary  Erudition  of  a  Christian  Man,  bishops  and  priests 
are  spoken  of  as  one  and  the  same  office.  In  the  ancient 
church  they  knew  none  of  those  subtilties  which  were  found 
out  in  the  latter  ages.  It  was  then  thought  enough  that  a 
bishop  was  to  be  dedicated  to  his  function  by  a  new  imposition 
of  hands ;  and  that  several  offices  could  not  be  performed 
without  bishops;  such  as  ordination,  confirmation,  &c.  but 
they  did  not  refine  in  these  matters  so  much  as  to  inquire, 
Avhether  bishops  and  priests  differed  in  order  and  office,  or 
only  in  degree.  But  after  the  schoolmen  fell  to  examine 
matters  of  divinity  with  logical  and  unintelligible  niceties,  and 
the  canonists  began  to  comment  upon  the  rules  of  the  ancient 
church,  they  studied  to  make  bishops  and  priests  seem  very 
near  one  another,  so  that  the  difference  was  but  small. 
They  did  it  with  different  designs.  The  schoolmen,  having 
set  up  the  grand  mystery  of  transubstantiation,  were  to  exalt 
the  priestly  office  as  much  as  was  possible  :  for  the  turning  the 
host  into  God  was  so  great  an  action,  that  they  reckoned  there 
could  be  no  office  higher  than  that  which  qualified  a  man  to  so 
mighty  a  performance  :  therefore,  as  they  changed  the  form  of 
ordination  from  what  it  was  anciently  believed  to  consist  in,  to 
a  delivering  of  the  sacred  vessels ;  and  held,  that  a  priest  had 
his  orders  by  that  rite,  and  not  by  the  imposition  of  hands  ;  so 
they  raised  their  order  or  office  so  high,  as  to  make  it  equal 
with  the  order  of  a  bishop :  but,  as  they  designed  to  extol 
the  order  of  priesthood,  so  the  canonists  had  as  great  a  mind 
to  depress  the  episcopal  order.  They  generally  wrote  for  pre- 
ferment ;  and  the  way  to  it  was,  to  exalt  the  papacy.    Nothing 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  397 

could  do  that  so  effectually  as  to  bring  down  the  power  of 
bishops.  This  only  could  justify  the  exemptions  of  the  monks 
and  friars,  the  popes  setting  up  legatine  courts,  and  receiving 
at  first  appeals,  and  then  original  causes  before  them  ;  together 
with  many  other  encroachments  on  their  jurisdiction ;  all 
which  were  unlawful,  if  the  bishops  had  by  divine  right  juris- 
diction in  their  dioceses :  therefore  it  was  necessary  to  lay 
them  as  low  as  could  be,  and  to  make  them  think  that  the 
power  they  held  was  rather  as  delegates  of  the  apostolic  see, 
than  by  a  commission  from  Christ  or  his  apostles  :  so  that  they 
looked  on  the  declaring  episcopal  authority  to  be  of  divine 
right  as  a  blow  that  would  be  fatal  to  the  court  of  Rome  ;  and 
therefore  they  did  after  this  at  Trent  use  all  possible  endeavours 
to  hinder  any  such  decision.  It  having  been  then  the  common 
style  of  that  age  to  reckon  bishops  and  priests  as  the  same 
office,  it  is  no  wonder  if  at  this  time  the  clergy  of  this  church, 
the  greatest  part  of  them  being  still  leavened  with  the  old 
superstition,  and  the  rest  of  them  not  having  enough  of  spare 
time  to  examine  lesser  matters,  retained  still  the  former 
phrases  in  this  particular. 

On  this  I  have  insisted  the  more,  that  it  may  appear  how 
little  they  have  considered  things,  who  are  so  far  carried  with 
their  zeal  against  the  established  government  of  this  church,  as 
to  make  much  use  of  some  passages  of  the  schoolmen  and 
canonists,  that  deny  them  to  be  distinct  offices :  for  these  are 
the  very  dregs  of  popery  ;  the  one  raising  the  priests  higher 
for  the  sake  of  transubstantiation,  the  other  pulling  the  bishops 
lower  for  the  sake  of  the  pope's  supremacy,  and  by  such  means 
bringing  them  almost  to  an  equality.  So  partial  are  some  men  to 
their  particular  conceits,  that  they  make  use  of  the  most  mis- 
chievous topics  when  they  can  serve  their  turn,  not  considering 
how  much  further  these  arguments  will  run,  if  they  ever  admit 
them.  *  * 

The  king  did  also  set  forward  the  printing  of  the  English  The  Bible 
Bible,  which  was  finished  this  year  at  London  by  Grafton  the  Printf(1  ir 
printer51,  who  printed  one  thousand  five   hundred   of  them 

51  [The  Bybie  in  Englyshe,  that  of  dyverse   excellent  learned   men 

is  to  saye,  the  content   of  all  the  expert  in  the  forsayde  tonges. 
holy   scrypture    bothe  of  ye    olde         Prynted  by  Rychard  Grafton  & 

and  newe  testament,  truly  translated  Edward  Whitchurch.  Cumprivilegio 

after  the  veryte  of  the  Hebrue  and  ad  imprimendum  solum.  1539.] 
Greke  textes,  by  ye  dylygent  studye 


398 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


New  in- 
j  unctions 
set  out  by 
the  king. 
Collect. 
Numb.  ii. 


at  his  own  charge.  This  Bible  Cromwell  presented  to  the 
king,  and  procured  his  warrant,  allowing  all  his  subjects,  in  all 
his  dominions,  to  read  it,  without  control  or  hazard.  .For 
which  the  archbishop  wrote  Cromwell  a  letter  of  most  hearty 
thanks,  dated  the  thirteenth  of  August :  "  who  did  now  rejoice 
"  that  he  saw  this  day  of  reformation,  which  he  concluded  was 
"  now  risen  in  England,  since  the  light  of  God's  word  did  shine 
"  over  it  without  any  cloud."  The  translation  had  been  sent 
over  to  France  to  be  printed  at  Paris,  the  workmen  in  Eng- 
land not  being  judged  able  to  do  it  as  it  ought  to  be.  There- 
fore, in  the  year  1537,  it  was  recommended  to  Bonner's  care, 
who  was  then  ambassador  at  Paris,  and  was  much  in  Cromwell's 
favour,  who  was  setting  him  up  against  Gardiner.  He  procured 
the  king  of  France's  leave  to  print  it  at  Paris  in  a  large 
volume  ;  but,  upon  a  complaint  made  by  the  French  clergy, 
the  press  was  stopped,  and  most  of  the  copies  were  seized  on, 
and  publicly  burnt ;  but  some  copies  were  conveyed  out  of  the 
way,  and  the  workmen  and  forms  were  brought  over  to  Eng- 
land ;  where  it  was  now  finished  and  published.  And  injunc- 
tions were  given  out  in  the  king's  name,  by  Cromwell,  to  all 
incumbents,  "  to  provide  one  of  these  Bibles,  and  set  it  up 
"  publicly  in  the  church,  and  not  to  hinder  or  discourage  the 
"  reading  of  it,  but  to  encourage  all  persons  to  peruse  it, 
"  as  being  the  true  lively  word  of  God,  which  every  Christian 
"  ought  to  believe,  embrace,  and  follow,  if  he  expected  to 
"  be  saved.  And  all  were  exhorted,  not  to  make  contests 
"  about  the  exposition  or  sense  of  any  difficult  place,  but 
"  to  refer  that  to  men  of  higher  judgment  in  the  scriptures. 
"  Then  some  other  rules  were  added,  about  the  instructing  the 
"  people  in  the  principles  of  religion,  by  teaching  the  Creed, 
"  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  Ten  Commandments  in  English  :  and 
"  that  in  every  church  there  should  be  a  sermon  made  every 
"  quarter  of  a  year  at  least,  to  declare  to  the  people  the  true 
"  gospel  of  Christ,  and  to  exhort  them  to  the  works  of  charity,  250 
"  mercy,  and  faith  ;  and  not  to  trust  in  other  men's  works,  or 
"  pilgrimages  to  images,  or  relics,  or  saying  over  beads,  which 
"  they  did  not  understand;  since  these  things  tended  to  idolatry 
"  and  superstition,  which  of  all  offences  did  most  provoke  God's 
"  indignation.  They  were  to  take  down  all  images  which  were 
"  abused  by  pilgrimages,  or  offerings  made  to  them,  and 
"  to  suffer  no  candles  to  be  set  before  any  image  ;  only  there 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  399 

"  might  be  candles  before  the  cross,  and  before  the  sacrament, 
"  and  about  the  sepulchre :  and  they  were  to  instruct  the 
"  people,  that  images  served  only  as  the  books  of  the  unlearned, 
"  to  be  remembrances  of  the  conversations  of  them  whom  they 
"  represented ;  but  if  they  made  any  other  use  of  images, 
"  it  was  idolatry  :  for  remedying  whereof,  as  the  king  had 
"  already  done  in  part,  so  he  intended  to  do  more  for  the 
"  abolishing  such  images,  which  might  be  a  great  offence 
"  to  God,  and  a  danger  to  the  souls  of  his  subjects.  And 
"  if  any  of  them  had  formerly  magnified  such  images,  or 
"  pilgrimages,  to  such  purposes,  they  were  ordered  openly 
"  to  recant,  and  acknowledge,  that  in  saying  such  things  they 
"  had  been  led  by  no  ground  in  scripture  ;  but  were  deceived 
"  by  a  vulgar  error,  which  had  crept  into  the  church  through 
"  the  avarice  of  those  who  had  profit  by  it.  They  were  also 
"  to  discover  all  such  as  were  letters  of  the  reading  of  God's 
"  word  in  English,  or  hindered  the  execution  of  these  injunc- 
"  tions.  Then  followed  orders  for  keeping  of  registers  in  their 
"  parishes ;  for  reading  all  the  king's  injunctions  once  every 
"  quarter  at  least ;  that  none  were  to  alter  any  of  the  holy- 
"  days  without  directions  from  the  king ;  and  all  the  eves 
"  of  the  holydays,  formerly  abrogated,  were  declared  to  be  no 
"  fasting  days ;  the  commemoration  of  Thomas  Becket  was 
"  to  be  clean  omitted ;  the  kneeling  for  the  Ave's  after  sermon 
"  were  also  forbidden,  which  were  said  in  hope  to  obtain  the 
"  pope's  pardon.  And  whereas  in  their  processions  they  used 
"  to  say  so  many  suffrages,  with  an  ora  pro  nobis  to  the  saints, 
"  by  which  they  had  not  time  to  say  the  suffrages  to  God 
"  himself;  they  were  to  teach  the  people,  that  it  were  better 
"  to  omit  the  ora  pro  nobis,  and  to  sing  the  other  suffrages, 
"  which  were  most  necessary  and  most  effectual." 

These  injunctions  struck  at  three  main  points  of  popery ; 
containing  encouragements  to  the  vulgar  to  read  the  scriptures 
in  a  known  tongue,  and  putting  down  all  worship  of  images, 
and  leaving  it  free  for  any  curate  to  leave  out  the  suffrages  to 
the  saints  :  so  that  they  were  looked  on  as  a  deadly  blow 
to  that  religion.  But  now  those  of  that  party  did  so  artificially 
comply  with  the  king,  that  no  advantages  could  be  found 
against  any  of  them  for  their  disobedience.  The  king  was 
master  at  home,  and  no  more  to  be  disobeyed.     He  had  not 


400  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

only  broken  the  rebellion  of  his  own   subjects,  and  secured 

himself,  by  alliance,  from  the  dangers  threatened  him  by  the 

pope  ;  but  all  their  expectations  from  the  lady  Mary  were  now 

Prince  Ed-  clouded :  for,  on  the  twelfth  of  October,  1587,  queen  Jane  had 

[Stow,         borne  him  a  son,  who  was  christened  Edward;    the  archbishop 

P-575-J       of  Canterbury  being  one  of  his  godfathers.     This  very  much 

encouraged  all  that  were  for  reformation,  and  disheartened 

those  who  were  against  it.     But  the  joy  for  this  young  prince 

[Herbert,    was  qualified  by  the  queen's  death,  two  days  after5-,  which  251 

P-  492J       afflicted  the  king  very  much  ;  for  of  all  his  wives  she  was  the 

dearest  to  him.     And  his  grief  for  that  loss  is  given  as  the 

reason  why  he  continued  two  years  a  widower.     But  others 

thought  he  had  not  so  much  tenderness  in  his  nature  as  to 

be  much  or  long  troubled  for  any  thing  :  therefore  the  slowness 

of  his  marrying  was  ascribed  to  some  reasons  of  state.     But 

the  birth  of  the  prince  was  a  great  disappointment  to  all  those 

whose  hopes  rested  on  the  lady  Mary's  succeeding  her  father : 

therefore  they  submitted  themselves  with  more  than  ordinary 

compliance  to  the  king. 

Great  com-      Gardiner  was   as  busy  as  any  in  declaiming   against   the 

tbTpopislf  religious  houses ;  and  took  occasion,  in  many  of  his  sermons,  to 

party.         commend   the    king   for  suppressing  them.     The  archbishop 

of  York  had  recovered  himself  at  court ;  and  I  do  not  find  that 

he  interposed  in  the  suppression  of  any  of  the  religious  houses, 

[April  23,    except  Hexham,  about  which   he   wrote   to    Cromwell,   that 
1536.]  r 

it  was  a  great  sanctuary  when  the  Scots  made  inroads ;  and  so 

he  thought  that  the  continuing  of  it  might  be  of  great  use 

[Cotton       to  the  king:.     He  added  in  that  letter,  "  that  he  did  carefullv 

MSS.  .  .  " 

Cleop.        "  silence  all  the  preachers  of  novelties.     But  some  of  these 

E.  iv  [fol.    <c  Doasted,  that  they  would  shortly  have  licenses  from  the  king, 

"  as  he  heard  they  had  already  from  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 

"  bury  ;  but  he  desired  Cromwell  to  prevent  that  mischief." 

This  is  all  that  I  find  of  him. 

[Rymer,  There  is  a  pardon  granted  to  Stokesley,  bishop  of  London, 

p.  596.]       on  the  third  of  July,  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  reign,  being 

this  year,  for  having  acted  by  commission  from  Home,  and 

sued  out  bulls  from  thence.     If  these  crimes  were  done  before 

the  separation  from  Rome,  they  were  remitted  by  the  general 

pardon.     If  he  took  a  particular  pardon,  it  seems  strange  that 

•r'2  [See  partii.  page  1.  and  the  note.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  401 

it  was  not  enrolled  till  now.     But  I  am  apt  to  believe,  it  was 
rather  the  omission  of  a  clerk,  than  his  being  guilty  of  such  a 
transgression  about  this  time ;    for  I  see  no  cause  to  think  the 
king  would  have  pardoned  such  a  crime  in  a  bishop  in  those 
days.     All  that  party  had  now,  by  their  compliance  and  sub- 
mission, gained  so  much  on  the  king,  that  he  began  to  turn 
more    to    their   counsels   than   he   had   done   of  late   years. 
Gardiner   was   returned   from    France,   where   he   had   been 
ambassador  for  some  years ;  he  had  been  also  in  the  emperor's 
court,  and  there  were  violent  presumptions  that  he  had  secretly 
reconciled  himself  to  the  pope,  and  entered  into  a  correspond- 
ence with  him.      For  one  of  the  legate's  servants  discoursed 
of  it  at  Ratisbon  to  one  of  sir  Henry  Kny vet's  retinue,  (who 
was  joined  in  the  embassy  with  Gardiner,)  whom  he  took  to  be 
Gardiner's  servant,  and  with  whom  he  had  an  old  acquaintance. 
The  matter  was  traced,  and  Knyvet  spoke  with  the  Italian  that 
had  first  let  it  fall,  and  was  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  thing  : 
but   Gardiner  smelling  it  out  said,  that  Italian,  upon  whose 
testimony  the  whole  matter  depended,  was  corrupted  to  ruin  him ; 
and  complained  of  it  to  the  emperor's  chancellor  Granvelle : 
upon  which  Ludovico  (that  was  the  Italian's  name)  was  put 
in  prison.     And  it  seems  the  king  either  looked  on  it  as  a  con- 
trivance of  Gardiner's  enemies,  or  at  least  seemed  to  do  so,  for 
he  continued  still  to  employ  him.     Yet  on  many  occasions  he 
252  expressed  great  contempt  of  him,  and  used  him  not  as  a  coun- 
sellor, but  as  a  slave.     But  he  was  a  man  of  great  cunning, 
and  had  observed  the  king's  temper  exactly,  and  knew  well  to 
take  a  fit  occasion  for  moving*  the  king  in  any  thing,  and  could 
improve  it  dextrously.     He  therefore  represented  to  the  king,  Gardiner 
that  nothing  would  so  secure  him,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  ^s^>the 
against  all  the  mischief  the  pope  was  contriving,  as  to  shew  gainst 
great  zeal  against  heretics,  chiefly  the  Sacramentaries ;    (by  s^amen- 
that  name  they  branded  all  that  denied  the  corporal  presence  taries. 
of  Christ  in  the  eucharist.)     And  the  king,  being  all  his  life 
zealous  for  the  belief  of  the  corporal  presence,  was  the  more 
easily  persuaded  to  be  severe  on  that  head  :  and  the  rather, 
because  the  princes  of  Germany,  whose  friendship  was  necessary 
to  him,  being  all  Lutherans,  his  proceedings  against  the  Sacra- 
mentaries would  give  them  no  offence. 

An  occasion  at  that  time  presented  itself  as  opportunely  AndLam- 

1  11.   ])ert  m  par. 

BURNET,  PART  I.  D  (1  ticular  ; 


402  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

[Fox,  vol.    as  they  could  have  wished  ;  one  John  Nicolson,  alias  Lambert, 

»•  P-  331-J  was  then  questioned  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  for  that 
opinion.  He  had  been  minister  of  the  English  company  at 
Antwerp,  whore  being  acquainted  with  Tyndale  and  Frith,  he 
improved  that  knowledge  of  religion,  which  was  first  infused  in 
him  by  Bilney  :  but  chancellor  More  ordered  the  merchants  to 
dismiss  him ;  so  he  came  over  to  England,  and  was  taken  by 
some  of  archbishop  Warham's  officers,  and  many  articles  were 
objected  to  him.    But  Warham  died  soon  after,  and  the  change 

[Ibid.  p.  of  counsels  that  followed  occasioned  his  liberty.  So  he  kept  a 
school  at  London,  and  hearing  doctor  Taylor,  afterwards  bishop 
of  Lincoln,  preach  of  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament, 
he  came  to  him  upon  it,  and  offered  his  reasons  why  he  could 
not  believe  the  doctrine  he  had  preached :  which  he  put  in 
writing,  digesting  them  into  ten  arguments.  Taylor  shewed 
this  to  doctor  Barnes,  who,  as  he  was  bred  among  the  Luther- 
ans, so  had  not  only  brought  over  their  opinions,  but  their 
temper  with  him  :  he  thought  that  nothing  would  more  obstruct 
the  progress  of  the  reformation,  than  the  venting  that  doctrine 
in  England.  Therefore  Taylor  and  he  carried  the  paper  to 
Cranmer,  who  was  at  that  time  also  of  Luther's  opinion53,  which 
he  had  drunk  in  from  his  friend  Osiander.  Latimer  was  of 
the  same  belief.  So  Lambert  was  brought  before  them,  and 
they  studied  to  make  him  retract  his  paper :  but  all  was  in  vain  ; 

Who  had     f0r  Lambert,  by  a  fatal  resolution,  appealed  to  the  king. 

the  king.  This  Gardiner  laid  hold  on,  and  persuaded  the  king  to 
proceed  solemnly  and  severely  in  it.  The  king  was  soon  pre- 
vailed with ;  and  both  interest  and  vanity  concurred  to  make 
him  improve  this  opportunity  for  shewing  his  zeal  and  learning. 
So  letters  were  written  to  many  of  the  nobility  and  bishops  to 
come  and  see  this  trial ;  in  which  the  king  intended  to  sit 
in  person,  and  to  manage  some  part  of  the  argument.  In 
November,  on  the  day  that  was  prefixed,  there  was  a  great 
appearance  in  Westminster-hall  of  the  bishops  and  clergy,  the 
nobility,  judges,  and   the  king's  council ;    with  an  incredible 

53  Cranmer  at  his  trial  being  then  the  papists'  doctrine.'  Fox, 
asked  what  doctrine  he  taught  con-  vol.  iii.  p.  656.  Nor  could  he  well 
cerning  this  sacrament  when  he  otherwise  have  argued  against  Lam- 
condemned  Lambert,  the  Sacramen-  bert  as  he  then  did.  To  name  no 
tary,  expressly  says,  '  I  maintained  more  authorities.   [B.] 


book  iil]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  403 

number  of  spectators.     The  king's  guards  were  all  in  white, 
and  so  was  the  cloth  of  state. 

When  the  prisoner  was  brought  to  the  bar,  the  trial  was  And  was 
opened  by  a  speech  of  doctor  Day's54,  which  was  to  this  effect :  ^.ied  a£ 
253  "  That  this  assembly  was  not  at  all  convened  to  dispute  about  any  Westmin- 

ster. 

"  point   of  faith  ;    but  that  the  king,  being  supreme    head,  [ibid.  p. 
"  intended  openly  to  condemn  and  confute  that  man's  heresy  35°-] 
"  in  all  their  presence.'1     Then  the  king  commanded  him  to 
declare  his  opinion  about  the  sacrament.     To  which  Lambert 
began  his  answer  with  a  preface,   acknowledging  the  king's 
great  goodness,  that  he  would  thus  hear  the  causes  of  his 
subjects,  and  commending  his  great  judgment  and  learning. 
In  this  the  king  interrupted  him,  telling  him  in  Latin,  that  he 
came  not  there  to  hear  his  own  praises  set  forth  ;  and  therefore 
commanded  him  to  speak  to  the  matter.     This  he  uttered  with 
a  stern  countenance ;  at  which  Lambert  being  a  little  disordered, 
the  king  asked  him  again,  AVhether  was  Christ's  body  in  the  Arguments 
sacrament  or  not?    He  answered  in  the  words  of  St.  Austin,  It  br?ugnt.a- 

gamst  him. 

ivas  his  body  in  a  certain  manner.  But  the  king  bade  him 
answer  plainly,  Whether  it  was  Christ's  body  or  not  ?  So 
he  answered,  That  it  was  not  his  body.  Upon  which  the 
king  urged  him  with  the  words  of  scripture,  This  is  my  body ; 
and  then  he  commanded  the  archbishop  to  confute  his  opinion, 
who  spoke  only  to  that  part  of  it  which  was  grounded  on  the 
impossibility  of  a  body's  being  in  two  places  at  once.  And 
that  he  confuted  from  Christ's  appearing  to  St.  Paul ;  shewing, 
that  though  he  is  always  in  heaven,  yet  he  was  seen  by  St. 
Paul  in  the  air.  But  Lambert  affirmed,  that  he  was  then  only 
in  heaven  ;  and  that  St.  Paul  heard  a  voice,  and  saw  a  vision, 
but  not  the  very  body  of  Christ.  Upon  this  they  disputed  for 
some  time;  in  which,  it  seems,  the  bishop  of  Winchester 
thought  Cranmer  argued  but  faintly,  for  he  interposed  in 
the  argument. 

Tunstall's  arguments  ran  all  upon  God's  omnipotency,  that  [Ibid.  fol. 
it  was  not  to  be  limited  by  any  appearances  of  difficulties,  which  •5?7'^ 
flowed  from  our  want  of  a  right  understanding  of  things ;  and 
our  faculties  being  weak,  our  notions  of  impossibilities  were 
proportioned  to  these.     But  Stokesley  thought  he  had  found 

54  [This  is  an  error  taken  from  Fox  for  Sampson,  bishop  of  Chichester. 
See  Strype's  Cranmer,  p.  65.] 

D  d  2 


404  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

out  a  demonstration  that  might  put  an  end  to  the  whole  con- 
troversy ;  for  he  shewed,  that  in  nature  we  see  one  substance 
changed  into  another,  and  yet  the  accidents  remain.  So,  when 
water  is  boiled  till  it  evaporates  into  air,  one  substance  is 
changed  into  another ;  and  moisture,  that  was  the  accident, 
remains,  it  being  still  moist.  This  (as  one  of  the  eyewitnesses 
relates)  was  received  with  great  applause,  and  much  joy  ap- 
peared in  the  bishops1  looks  upon  it.  But  whether  the  spec- 
tators could  distinguish  well  between  laughter  for  joy,  and  a 
scornful  smile,  I  cannot  tell :  for  certainly  this  crotchet  must 
have  provoked  the  latter  rather,  since  it  was  a  sophism  not  to 
be  forgiven  any  above  a  junior  sophister;  thus  from  an  acci- 
dental conversion,  where  the  substance  was  still  the  same,  only 
altered  in  its  form  and  qualities,  (according  to  the  language  of 
that  philosophy  which  was  then  most  in  vogue,)  to  infer  a  sub- 
stantial mutation,  where  one  substance  was  annihilated,  and  a 
new  one  produced  in  its  place.  But  these  arguments,  it  seems, 
disordered  Lambert  somewhat ;  and  either  the  king's  stern 
looks,  the  variety  of  the  disputants,  ten,  one  after  another, 
engaging  with  him,  or  the  greatness  of  the  presence,  with  the 
length  of  the  action,  which  continued  five  hours,  put  him  in 
some  confusion :  it  is  not  improbable  but  they  might  in  the  end 
bring  him  to  be  quite  silent.  This,  one  that  was  present55 
said,  flowed  from  his  being  spent  and  wearied  t  and  that  he 
saw  what  he  said  was  little  considered :  but  others  ascribed  it  254 
to  his  being  confounded  with  the  arguments  that  were  brought 
against  him.  So  the  general  applause  of  the  hall  gave  the 
victory  on  the  king's  side.  When  he  was  thus  silent,  the  king 
asked  him,  If  he  was  convinced  by  the  arguments,  and  whether 
he  would  live  or  die?  He  answered,  That  he  committed  his 
soul  to  God,  and  submitted  his  body  to  the  king's  clemency. 
But  the  king  told  him,  if  he  did  not  recant,  he  must  die ;  for 
he  would  not  be  a  patron  of  heretics :  and  since  he  would  not 
He  is  con-  do  that,  the  king;  ordered  Cromwell  to  read  the  sentence, 
ribkine  '  (which  he,  as  the  king's  vicegerent,  did,)  declaring  him  an 
p-  358-]  incorrigible  heretic,  and  condemning  him  to  be  burnt.  Which 
was  soon  after  executed  in  Smithfield,  in  a  most  barbarous 
manner ;  for,  when  his  legs  and  thighs  were  burnt  to   the 

55   [The  whole  of  this   account     concludes  with  the  words,  Ex  tes- 
seems  to  be  taken  from  Fox,  who     timonio  cujusdam  ovtotttov,  A.  G.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  405 

stumps,  there  not  being  fire  enough  to  consume  the  rest  of 

him  suddenly,  two  of  the  officers  raised  up  his  body  on  their 

halberds,  he  being  yet  alive  and  crying  out,  None  but  Christ, 

none  but  Christ;  and  then  they  let  him  fall  down  into  the 

fire,  where  he  was  quickly  consumed  to  ashes.      He  was  a  And  burnt. 

learned  and  good  man.     His  answers  to  the  articles  objected 

to  him  by  Warham,  and  a  book  which  in  his  imprisonment  he  [Ibid. 

wrote  for  justifying  his  opinion,  which  he  directed  to  the  king,  ^^  ' 

do  shew  both  great  learning  for  those  times,  and  a  very  good  p.  359] 

judgment. 

This  being  done,  the  party  that  opposed  the  reformation 
persuaded  the  king,  that  he  had  got  so  much  reputation  to 
himself  by  it,  that  it  would  effectually  refute  all  aspersions, 
which  had  been  cast  on  him,  as  if  he  intended  to  change  the 
faith :  neither  did  they  forget  to  set  on  him  in  his  weak  side, 
and  magnify  all  that  he  had  said,  as  if  the  oracle  had  uttered 
it :  by  which,  they  said,  it  appeared,  he  was  indeed  a  defender 
of  the  faith,  and  the  supreme  head  of  the  church.  And  he 
had  so  good  a  conceit  of  what  was  then  done,  that  he  intended 
to  pursue  these  severities  further  ;  and  therefore,  soon  after,  he 
resolved  on  summoning  a  parliament,  partly  for  confirming 
what  he  had  done,  and  completing  what  remained  to  be  done 
further,  in  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries ;  and  likewise 
for  making  a  new  law  for  punishing  some  opinions,  which  were 
then  spreading  about  the  sacrament,  and  some  other  articles, 
as  will  soon  appear. 

Now  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury's  interest  at  court  suffered  The  popish 
a  great  diminution.     His  chief  friend  among  the  bishops  was  grouncKa" 
Fox,  bishop  of  Hereford,  who  was  much  esteemed  and  em-  court, 
ployed  by  the  king.     He  was  a  privy  counsellor,  and  had  been 
employed  in  a  negotiation  with  the  princes  of  Germany,  to 
whom  he  was  a  very  acceptable  minister.    They  proposed,  that  [Cotton 
the  king  would  receive  the  Augsburg  Confession,  except  in  cieop. 
such  things  as  should  be  altered  in  it  by  common  consent,  and  E- vi-  fol- 
defend  it  in  a  free  council,  if  any  such  were  called  ;  and  that 
neither  of  them  should  acknowledge  any  council  called  by  the 
pope :  that  the  king  should  be  called  the  patron  of  their  league, 
and  they  should  mutually  assist  one  another,  the  king  giving  a 
hundred  thousand  crowns  a  year  towards  the  defence  of  the 
league. 

The  bishop  of  Winchester,  being  then  in  France,  did  much 


princes. 


406  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

[Ibid.  dissuade  the  king  from  making  a  religious  league  with  them  ; 

fol.  2i4.\Y  against  which  he  gave  some  plausible  politic  reasons,  for  his 
[Ibid.          conscience  never  struggled  with  a  maxim  of  state.     But  the  255 
Sleo.p'f  ,     king  liked  most  of  the  propositions  ;  only  he  would  not  accept 
298.]  the  title  of  defender  of  their  league,  till  some  differences  in  the 

The  king's  doctrine  were  agreed55.  So  they  were  to  have  sent  over  Sturmius 
spondence  as  their  agent ;  and  Melancthon,  Bucer,  and  George  Draco,  to 
with  the  confer  with  the  king's  divines56.  But  upon  queen. Anne's  fall 
this  vanished  ;  and  though  the  king  entered  into  a  civil  league 
with  them,  and  had  frequently  a  mind  to  bring  over  Melancthon, 
for  whom  he  had  a  great  value,  yet  it  never  took  effect.  There 
were  three  things  in  which  the  Germans  were  more  positive 
than  in  any  other  point  of  reformation :  these  were,  the  com- 
munion in  both  kinds,  the  worship  in  a  known  tongue,  and  an 
allowance  for  the  marriage  of  the  clergy.  All  the  people  had 
got  these  things  in  their  heads ;  so  that  it  was  generally  be- 
lieved, that  if  the  pope  had  in  time  consented  to  them,  the 
progress  of  the  reformation  had  been  much  stopped.  The 
express  words  of  the  institution,  and  the  novelty  of  the  contrary 
practice,  had  engaged  that  nation  very  early  for  communion  in 
both  kinds.  Common  sense  made  them  all  desire  to  understand 
what  they  did  and  said  in  the  worship  of  God ;  and  the  lewd 
and  dissolute  practices  of  the  unmarried  clergy  were  so  public, 
that  they  thought  the  honour  of  their  families.,  of  which  that 
nation  is  extremely  sensible,  could  not  be  secured,  unless  the 
clergy  might  have  wives  of  their  own.  But  at  these  the  king 
stuck  more  than  at  other  things  that  were  more  disputable : 
for  in  all  other  points  that  were  material,  he  had  set  up  the 
doctrine  of  the  Augsburg  Confession ;  and  there  was  good 
ground  to  hope  that  the  evidence  of  at  least  two  of  these 
would  have  brought  over  the  king  to  a  fuller  agreement,  and 
firmer  union  with  them. 

*  *  The  princes  of  Germany  did  always  press  the  king  to 
enter  into  a  religious  league  with  them  ;  the  first  league  that 
was  made,  in  the  year  1536,  was  conceived  in  general  terms 
against  the  pope,  as  the  common  enemy,  and  for  setting  up 
true  religion  according  to  the  gospel :  but  they  did  afterwards 
send  over  ambassadors  to  treat  about  particulars;   and  they 

55  [The  three  documents  referred     tical  Memorials,  vol.  i.  pp.  159-163.] 
to   in   the    margin    have   all   been         •r,fi  [See  part  hi.  p.  116.] 
printed  by  Strype  in  his  Ecclesias- 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  407 

having  presented  a  memorial  of  these,  there  were  conferences 
appointed  between  them  and  some  bishops  and  divines  of  this 
church.  I  find  no  divines  were  sent  over  hither  but  Frederick 
Miconius,  minister  of  Gotha,  by  whom  Melancthon,  who  could 
not  be  spared  out  of  Germany,  sent  several  letters  to  the  king5? ; 
the  fullest  and  longest  of  them  will  be  found  in  the  Collection.  Collect. 
It  is  all  to  this  purpose;  to  persuade  the  king  to  go  on  vigor-  Numb  g' 
ously  in  the  reforming  of  abuses,  according  to  the  word  of  God. 
The  king  sent  over  the  particulars  which  they  proposed,  in 
order  to  a  perfect  agreement,  to  Gardiner,  who  was  then  at 
Paris :  upon  which  he  sent  back  his  opinion  touching  them  all ; 
the  original  of  which,  under  his  own  hand,  I  have  seen,  but  it 
relates  so  much  to  the  other  paper  that  was  sent  him,  which  I 
never  saw,  that  without  it  his  meaning  can  hardly  be  under- 
stood ;  and  therefore  I  have  not  put  it  in  the  Collection.  The 
main  thing  in  it,  at  which  it  chiefly  drives,  is,  to  press  the  king- 
to  finish  first  a  civil  league  with  them,  and  to  leave  those  par- 
ticulars concerning  religion  to  be  afterwards  treated  of.  The 
king  followed  his  advice  so  far  as  to  write  to  the  German 
princes  to  that  effect :  but  when  the  king  declared  his  resolu- 
tion to  have  the  six  articles  established,  all  that  favoured  the 
reformation  were  much  alarmed  at  it,  and  pressed  their  friends 
in  Germany  to  interpose  with  the  king  for  preventing  it.  I 
have  seen  an  original  letter  of  Ileyncs,  dean  of  Exeter,  in  which 
he  laments  the  sad  effects  that  would  follow  on  that  act,  which  [Cotton 
was  then  preparing ;  that  all  the  corruptions  in  the  church  cleo " 
rose  from  the  establishing  some  points  without  clear  proofs  E.  v.  fol. 
from  scripture  :  he  wished  the  Germans  would  consider  of  it ;  " 
for  if  the  king  and  parliament  should  make  such  a  law,  this 
was  a  precedent  for  the  emperor  to  make  the  like  in  the  diet 
of  the  empire.  Neither  Avere  the  German  ambassadors  back- 
ward in  doing  their  friends  in  England  all  the  service  they 
could ;  for,  after  they  had  held  several  conferences  with  these 
that  were  appointed  by  the  king  to  treat  with  them,  they, 
finding  they  could  not  prevail  with  them,  wrote  a  long  and 
learned  letter  to  the  king  against  the  taking  away  the  chalice 
in  the  sacrament,  and  against  private  masses  and  the  celibate 
of  the  clergy,  with  some  other  abuses,  which  the  reader  will 
find  in  the  Collection,  as  it  is  copied  from  the  original,  which  Collect. 
[See  the  Appendix  to  Strype's  Memorials,  Nos.  94-102.]  Numb.  7' 


408 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Collect. 
Addenda, 
Numb.  8. 


[May  8.] 

Bonner's 
dissimula- 
tion. 


I  have  seen.  To  this  I  have  added  the  answer  which  the  king 
wrote  to  it :  he  employed  Tunstall,  bishop  of  Durham,  to  draw 
it ;  for  I  have  seen  a  rude  draught  of  a  great  part  of  it  written 
with  his  hand.  By  both  these  compared  together,  every  in- 
different reader  will  clearly  see  the  force  and  simplicity  of  the 
arguments  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  art  and  shuffling  that  was 
used  on  the  other  side.  As  soon  as  the  act  was  passed,  not- 
withstanding all  their  endeavours  to  the  contrary,  they,  in  an 
audience  before  the  king,  represented  the  great  concern  their 
masters  would  have,  when  the  king,  on  whom  they  had  relied 
so  much  as  the  defender  of  the  faith,  should  proceed  with  the 
severity  expressed  in  that  act  against  those  that  agreed  with 
them  in  doctrine ;  and  pressed  the  king  earnestly  to  put  a  stop 
to  the  execution  of  it.  The  king  promised  he  would  see  to  it ; 
and  that,  though  he  judged  the  act  necessary  to  restrain  the 
insolence  of  some  of  his  subjects,  yet  it  should  not  be  executed 
but  upon  great  provocation :  he  also  proposed  the  renewing  a 
civil  league  with  them,  without  mentioning  matters  of  religion. 
To  this  the  princes  made  answer,  that  the  league,  as  it  was  at 
first  projected,  was  chiefly  upon  a  design  of  religion  ;  and 
therefore,  without  a  common  consent  of  all  that  were  in  their 
league,  they  could  not  alter  it.  They  lamented  this  passing  of 
the  late  act ;  but  writ  their  thanks  to  the  king  for  stopping 
the  execution  of  it :  and  warned  him,  that  some  of  his  bishops, 
who  set  him  on  to  these  courses,  were  in  their  hearts  still  for 
all  the  old  abuses,  and  for  the  pope's  supremacy,  and  were 
pressing  on  the  king  to  be  severe  against  his  best  subjects, 
that  they  might  thereby  bring  on  a  design  which  they  could 
not  hope  to  effect  any  other  way.  They  advised  the  king  to 
beware  of  such  counsels.  They  also  proposed,  that  there  might 
be  a  conference  agreed  on  between  such  divines  as  the  king 
would  name,  and  such  as  they  should  depute,  to  meet  either  in 
Gueldres,  Hamburg,  Bremen,  or  any  other  place  that  should 
be  appointed  by  the  king,  to  examine  the  lawfulness  of  private 
masses,  of  denying  the  chalice,  and  the  prohibiting  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy.  On  these  things  they  continued  treating  till  the 
divorce  of  Anne  of  Cleves,  and  Cromwell's  fall ;  after  which  I 
find  little  correspondence  between  the  king  and  them.  *  * 

But  the  bishop  of  Hereford's  death  gave  a  great  blow  to 
that  design :  for  though  that  party  thought  they  had  his  room 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.    (1538.)  409 

well  filled,  when  they  had  got  Bonner  to  be  his  successor ;  yet 
they  found  afterwards  what  a  fatal  mistake  they  committed,  in 
raising  him  now  to  Hereford,  and  translating  him,  within  a  few 
months,  to  London,  vacant  by  Stokesley's  death57.  But,  during 
the  vacancy  of  the  see  of  Hereford,  Cranmer  held  a  visitation 
in  it,  where  he  left  some  injunctions  (to  be  found  in  the  Col-  Collect, 
lection)  which  chiefly  related  to  the  encouraging  of  reading  Numb-  12- 
the  scriptures,  and  giving  all  due  obedience  to  the  king's  in- 
junctions. For  the  other  bishops  that  adhered  to  Cranmer, 
they  were  rather  clogs  than  helps  to  him.  Latimer's  sim- 
plicity and  weakness  made  him  be  despised ;  Shaxton's  proud 
and  litigious  humour  drew  hatred  on  him ;  Barlow  was  not 
very  discreet ;  and  many  of  the  preachers  whom  they  cherished, 
whether  out  of  an  unbridled  forwardness  of  temper,  or  true 
zeal,  that  would  not  be  managed  and  governed  by  politic  and 
prudent  measures,  were  flying  at  many  things  that  were  not 
yet  abolished.  Many  complaints  were  brought  of  these  to  the 
king.  Upon  which,  letters  were  sent  to  all  the  bishops,  in  the 
king's  name,  to  take  care,  that  as  the  people  should  be  in- 
structed in  the  truth,  so  they  should  not  be  unwarily  charged 
with  too  many  novelties ;  since  the  publishing  these,  if  it  was 
not  tempered  with  great  discretion,  would  raise  much  con- 
tention, and  other  inconveniences,  that  might  be  of  dangerous 
consequence.  But  it  seems  this  caveat  did  not  produce  what 
256  was  designed  by  it,  or  at  least  the  opposite  party  were  still 
bringing  in  new  complaints :  for  I  have  seen  an  original  letter 
of  Cromwell's  to  the  bishop  of  Llandaff,  bearing  date  the  sixth  Collect. 
of  January,  in  which  he  makes  mention  of  the  king's  letter  sent  Numb-  x3- 
to  that  purpose,  and  requires  him  to  look  to  the  execution  of 
them,  both  against  the  violence  of  the  new  preachers,  and 
against  those  that  secretly  carried  on  the  pretended  authority 
of  the  bishop  of  Rome ;  otherwise  he  threatens  to  proceed 
against  him  in  another  manner. 

*  *   When   I  mentioned  the  king's    letters,   directing  the  Collect. 

?  Add      (\ 

bishops  how  to  proceed  in  a  reformation,  I  had  not  seen  them ;  Nun^  *' 
but  I  have  since  seen  an  original  of  them  subscribed  by  the 
king's  hand.     In  these  he  challenged  the  clergy  as  guilty  of 
great  indiscretions  :  that  the  late  rebellion  had  been  occasioned 

57  [Bonner  was  translated  to  London  before  his  consecration,  which 
took  place  April  4,  1540.] 


410  THE    HISTORY   OF  [part  i. 

by  them  ;  therefore  he  required  the  bishops  to  take  care  that 
the  articles  formerly  published  should  be  exactly  obeyed  ;  and 
to  go  over  their  dioceses  in  person,  and  preach  obedience  to 
the  laws,  and  the  good  ends  of  those  ceremonies  that  were  then 
retained,  that  the  people  might  neither  despise  them,  nor  put 
too  much  trust  in  them :  and  to  silence  all  disputes  and  con- 
tentions concerning  things  indifferent;  and  to  signify  to  the 
king's  council  if  there  were  any  priests  in  their  dioceses  that 
were  married,  and  yet  did  discharge  any  part  of  the  priestly 
office.  All  which  will  be  better  understood  by  the  letter  itself, 
that  I  have  put  into  the  Collection.  *  * 

All  these  things  concurred  to  lessen  Cranmer's  interest  in 
the  court ;  nor  had  he  any  firm  friend  there  but  Cronnvell, 
who  was  also  careful  to  preserve  himself :    there  was  not  a 
queen  now  in  the  king's  bosom  to  favour  their  motions.   Queen 
Jane  had  been  their  friend,  though  she  came  in  Anne  Boleyn's 
room,  that  had  supported  them  most.     The  king  was  observed 
to  be  much  guided  by  his  wives,  as  long  as  they  kept  their 
interest  with  him.     Therefore  Cromwell  thought,  the  only  way 
to  retrieve  a  design  that  was  almost  lost  was  to  engage  the 
king  in  an  alliance  with  some  of  the  princes  of  Germany  ;  from 
whence  he  had  heard  much  of  the  beauty  of  the  lady  Anne  of 
Cleves,  the  duke  of  Clevcs'  sister,  whose  elder  sister  was  married 
to  the  duke  of  Saxony. 
A  new  p«ar-      But,  while  he  was  setting  this  on  foot,  a  parliament  was 
[Journals    summoned  to  meet  the  twenty-eighth  of  April :  to  which  all 
of  Lords,     tne  parliamentary  abbots  had  their  writs58.     The  abbots  of 
Westminster,  St.  Alban's,  St.  Edmundsbury,  St.  Mary  York, 
Glastonbury,    Gloucester,    Ramsey,    Evesham,    Peterborough, 
Reading,  Malmesbury,  Croyland,  Selby,  Thorney,Winchcombe, 
Waltham,  Cirencester,  Tewkesbury,  Colchester,  and  Tavistock, 
[Ibid.  p.      sat  in  it.     On  the  fifth  of  May  the  lord  chancellor  acquainted 
Io5'J  them,  that  the   king,  being   most  desirous    to    have   all    his 

subjects  of  one  mind  in  religion,  and  to  quiet  all  controversies 
about  it,  had  commanded  him  to  move  to  them,  that  a  com- 
mittee might  be  appointed  for  examining  these  different  opin- 
ions, and  drawing  up  articles  for  an  agreement,  which  might 
be  reported  and  considered  by  the  house.     To  this  the  lords 

58    According    to    Dugdale    the     Tavistock  were  not  summoned  to  this 
abbots    of    St.  Edmundsbury   and      parliament,  April  28,  1539.  [B.] 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  411 

agreed  ;  and  named  for  a  committee,  Cromwell  the  vicegerent, 
the  two  archbishops,  the  bishops  of  Durham,  Bath  and  Wells, 
Ely,  Bangor,  Carlisle,  and  Worcester  :  who  were  ordered  to  go 
about  it  with  all  haste,  and  were  dispensed  with  for  their 
attendance  in  the  house  till  they  had  ended  their  business. 
But  they  could  come  to  no  agreement ;  for  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  having  the  bishops  of  Ely  and  Worcester  to 
second  him,  and  being  favoured  by  Cromwell,  the  other  five 
could  carry  nothing  against  them  :  nor  would  either  party 
yield  to  the  other  ;  so  that  eleven  days  passed  in  these  debates. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  May  the  duke  of  Norfolk  told  the  lords,  [Ibid.  p. 
that  the  committee  that  was  named  had  made  no  progress,  for  I°9'-1 
they   were  not   of  one  mind  ;    which  some  of  the  lords  had 
objected,  when  they  were  first  named.     Therefore  he  offered  The  six  ar- 
some  articles  to  the  lords'  consideration,  that  they  might  be  proposed 
examined  by  the  whole  house,  and  that  there   might  be  a  [Wilkins, 
perpetual  law  made  for   the  observation  of  them,   after  the  g.s.l 
lords   had   freely    delivered .  their    minds   about   them.      The 
articles  were ; 

W  First,  Whether  in  the  eucharist  Christ's  real  body  was 

"present  without  any  transubstantiation  ? "    (so  it  is  in  the 

Journal,  absque  transuhstmitiatione.)     It  seems,  so  the  cor- 

257  poral  presence  had  been  established,  they  would  have  left  the 

manner  of  it  indefinite. 

"  Secondly,  Whether  that  sacrament  was  to  be  given  to  the 
"  laity  in  both  kinds  ? 

"  Thirdly,  Whether  the  vows  of  chastity,  made  either  by 
"  men  or  women,  ought  to  be  observed  by  the  law  of  God  ? 

"  Fourthly,  Whether,   by  the  law  of  God,  private  masses 
"  ought  to  be  celebrated  ? 

"  Fifthly,  Whether   priests,    by   the   law   of  God,   might 
"  marry  ? 

"  Sixthly,  Whether  auricular  confession  was  necessary  by 
"the  law  of  God?" 

Against  these  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  argued  long.  Reasons 
For  the  first,  he  was  then  in  his  opinion  a  Lutheran,  so  he  was  them. 
not  like  to  say  much  against  it.     But  certainly  he  opposed  the  [Fox,  vol. 
second  much ;   since  there  was  not  any  thing  for  which  those  "•  p-  372J 
with  whom  he  held  correspondence  were  more  earnest,  and 
seemed  to  have  greater  advantages,  both  from  Christ's  own 


THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

words  in  the  institution,  and  the  constant  practice  of  the  church 
for  twelve  ages. 

For  the  third,  it  seemed  very  hard  to  suppress  so  many 
monasteries,  and  set  the  religious  persons  at  liberty,  and  yet 
bind  them  up  to  chastity.  That  same  parliament,  by  another 
act,  absolved  them  from  their  vow  of  poverty,  giving  them 
power  to  purchase  lands :  now  it  was  not  reasonable  to  bind 
them  up  to  some  parts  of  their  vow,  when  they  absolved  them 
from  the  rest.  And  it  was  no  ways  prudent  to  bind  them 
up  from  marriage,  since,  as  long  as  they  continued  in  that  state, 
they  were  still  capable  to  reenter  into  their  monasteries  when 
a  fair  occasion  should  offer ;  whereas  they,  upon  their  marry- 
ing, did  effectually  lay  down  all  possible  pretensions  to  their 
former  houses. 

For  the  fourth,  the  asserting  the  necessity  of  private  masses 
was  a  plain  condemnation  of  the  king's  proceedings  in  the 
suppression  of  so  many  religious  houses,  which  were  societies 
chiefly  dedicated  to  that  purpose  :  for  if  these  masses  did  profit 
the  souls  departed,  the  destroying  so  many  foundations  could 
not  be  justified.  And  for  the  living,  these  private  masses  w«re 
clearly  contrary  to  the  first  institution,  by  which  that  which 
was  blessed  and  consecrated  was  to  be  distributed  :  and  it  was 
to  be  a  communion,  and  so  held  by  the  primitive  church,  which 
admitted  none  so  much  as  to  see  the  celebration  of  that  sacra- 
ment, but  those  who  received  it :  laying  censures  upon  such  as 
were  present  at  the  rest  of  that  office,  and  did  not  stay  and 
communicate. 

For  the  fifth,  it  touched  Cranmer  to  the  quick  ;  for  he  was 
then  married.  The  scripture  did  in  no  place  enjoin  the 
celibate  of  the  clergy.  On  the  contrary,  scripture  speaks 
of  their  wives,  and  gives  the  rules  of  their  living  with  them. 
And  St.  Paul,  in  express  words,  condemns  all  men's  leaving 
[i  Cor.  vii.  their  wives,  without  exception  :  saying,  that  the  man  hath  not 
4'-*  power  over  his  own  body,  but  the  wife.     In    the   primitive 

church,  though  those  that  were  in  orders  did  not  marry, 
yet  such  as  were  married  before  orders  kept  their  wives  ; 
of  which  there  were  many  instances.  And  when  some  moved 
in  the  council  of  Nice,  that  all  that  had  been  married,  when 
they  entered  into  orders,  should  put  away  their  wives,  it  was 
rejected :    and  ever  since,  the  Greek  churches  have  allowed  258 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  413 

their  priests  to  keep  their  wives.  Nor  was  it  ever  commanded 
in  the  western  church  till  the  popes  began  their  usurpation. 
Therefore,  the  prohibition  of  it  being  only  grounded  on  the 
papal  constitutions,  it  was  not  reasonable  to  keep  it  up ;  since 
that  authority,  on  which  it  was  built,  was  now  overthrown. 

What  was  said  concerning  auricular  confession,  I  cannot  so 
easily  recover. 

*  *  I  do  there  acknowledge,  that  I  knew  not  what  arguments 
Avere  used  against  the  necessity  of  auricular  confession  :  but 
I  have  made,  since  that  time,  a  considerable  discovery  in  this 
particular,  from  an  original  letter  written  all  with  the  king's 
own  hand  to  Tunstall ;  by  which  it  appears,  there  had  been 
conferences  in  the  house,  and  that  the  archbishop  of  York,  the 
bishop  of  Winchester  and  Durham,  had  pleaded  much  for  it,  as 
necessary  by  a  divine  institution ;  and  that  both  the  king  and 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  had  maintained,  that,  though 
it  was  good  and  profitable,  yet  it  was  not  necessary  by  any 
precept  of  the  gospel :  and  that,  though  the  bishops  brought 
several  texts  out  of  scripture  and  ancient  doctors,  yet  these 
were  so  clearly  answered  by  the  king  and  the  archbishop,  that 
the  whole  house  was  satisfied  with  it :  yet  Tunstall  drew  up 
in  a  writing  all  the  reasons  he  had  made  use  of  in  that  debate, 
and  brought  them  to  the  king,  which  will  be  found  in  the 
Collection,  with  the  annotations  and  reflections  which  the  king  Collect. 
wrote  on  the  margin   with    his   own  hand,  taken   from   the  Agenda, 

°  m  Numb.  10. 

original ;   together  with  the  king's  letter  written  in  answer  Collect 
to  them :    by  this  it  will  appear,  that  the  king  did  set  himself  Addenda, 
much  to  study  points  of  divinity,  and  examined  matters  with 
a  scrupulous  exactness.     The  issue  of  the  debate  was,  that, 
though  the  popish  party  endeavoured  to  have  got  auricular 
confession  declared  to  be  commanded  by  Christ,  as  a  part 
of  the  sacrament  of  penance,  yet  the  king  overruled  that ;  so  it 
was  enacted,  that  auricular  confession  was  necessary  and  ex- 
pedient to  be  retained  in  the  church  of  God.     These  debates 
were  in  the  house  of  lords,  which  appears  not  only  by  the 
king's  letter  that  speaks  of  the  house,  but  by  the  act  of  parlia-  [Statutes, 
ment,  in  the  preamble  of  which  it  is  said,  that  the  king  had  1° '  n11' p' 
come  himself  to  the  parliament,  and  had  opened  several  points 
of  high  learning  to  them.  *  * 

For  though  Cranmer  argued  three  days  against  these  articles,  [Fox,  vol. 

ii.  p.  372.] 


414  THE    HISTORY    OF  [part  i. 

I  can  only  gather  the  substance  of  his  arguments  from  what 
himself  wrote  on  some  of  these  heads  afterwards:  for  nothing 
remains  of  what  passed  there  but  what  is  conveyed  to  us  in  the 
Journal,  which  is  short  and  defective. 
[May  23.         On  the  twenty-fourth  of  May  the  parliament  was  prorogued 
of  Lords      ^°  ^ne  thirtieth  ;  upon  what  reason  it  does  not  appear.     It  was 
p.  112.]       not  to  set  any  of  the  bills  backward;  for  it  was  agreed,  that 
the  bills  should  continue  in  the  state  in  which  they  were  then, 
till  their  next  meeting.    When  they  met  again,  on  the  thirtieth 
of  May,  being  Friday,  the  lord  chancellor  intimated  to  them, 
that  not   only  the  spiritual  lords,  but  the  king  himself,  had 
taken  much  pains  to  brings  things  to  an  agreement,  which  was 
[Ibid.  p.      effected.     Therefore  he  moved,  in  the  king's  name,  that  a  bill 
"3'J  might  be  brought  in  for  punishing  such  as  offended  against 

these  articles.  So  the  lords  appointed  the  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, the  bishops  of  Ely  and  St.  David's,  and  doctor  Petre, 
a  master  of  chancery,  (afterwards  secretary  of  state,)  to  draw 
one  bill ;  and  the  archbishop  of  York,  the  bishop  of  Durham, 
and  Winchester,  and  doctor  Tregonwell,  another  master  of 
chancery,  to  draw  another  bill  about  it ;  and  to  have  them  both 
ready,  and  to  offer  them  to  the  king  by  Sunday  next.  But 
the  bill  that  was  drawn  by  the  archbishop  of  York,  and  those 
with  him,  was  best  liked :  yet  it  seems  the  matter  was  long 
contested,  for  it  was  not  brought  to  the  house  before  the 
seventh  of  June  ;  and  then  the  lord  chancellor  offered  it,  and 
[Ibid.  p.  it  was  read  the  first  time.  On  the  ninth  of  June  it  had  the 
second  reading,  and  on  the  tenth  it  was  engrossed,  and  read 

[Eox,  vol.    the  third  time.    But  when  it  passed,  the  king  desired  the  arch- 
il, p.  372.] 

bishop  of  Canterbury  to  go  out  of  the  house,  since  he  could  not 

give  his  consent  to  it ;  but  he  humbly  excused  himself,  for 

he  thought  he  was  bound  in  conscience  to  stay  and  vote  against 

it.     It  was  sent  down  to  the  house  of  commons,  where  it  met 

[Journals    with  no  great  opposition ;    for  on  the  fourteenth  it  was  agreed 

p.  118.]'     to,  and  sent  up  again:  and  on  the  twenty-eighth  it  had  the 

force  of  a  law  by  the  royal  assent. 

An  act  rphQ  tit[e  0f  it  was,  an  act  for  abolishing  diversity  of  opinions 

passed  for  t  .  \  a  ... 

them.  in  certain  articles  concerning  Christian  religion.     It  is  said 

statutes'  *n  ^e  PrcamD^e)  that  the  king,  "  considering  the  blessed  effects 

vol.  iii.  p.  "  of  union,  and  the  mischiefs  of  discord,  since  there  were  many 

739-J  «  different  opinions,  both  among  the  clergy  and  laity,  about 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  415 

"  some  points  of  religion,  had  called  this  parliament,  and  a 
"  synod  at  the  same  time,  for  removing  these  differences,  where 
"  six  articles  were  proposed,  and  long  debated  by  the  clergy : 
"  and  the  king  himself  had  come  in  person  to  the  parliament 
"  and  council,  and  opened  many  things  of  high  learning  and 
"  great  knowledge  about  them  :  and  that  he,  with  the  assent  of 
"  both  houses  of  parliament,  had  agreed  on  the  following 
259  "  articles.  First,  That  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  after  the 
"  consecration,  there  remained  no  substance  of  bread  and  wine, 
"  but  under  these  forms  the  natural  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
"  were  present.  Secondly,  That  communion  in  both  kinds 
"  was  not  necessary  to  salvation  to  all  persons  by  .the  law 
"  of  God ;  but  that  both  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  were 
"  together  in  each  of  the  kinds.  Thirdly,  That  priests,  after 
"  the  order  of  priesthood,  might  not  marry  by  the  law  of  God. 
"  Fourthly,  That  vows  of  chastity  ought  to  be  observed  by  the 
"  law  of  God.  Fifthly,  That  the  use  of  private  masses  ought 
"  to  be  continued  ;  which  as  it  was  agreeable  to  God's  law,  so 
"  men  received  great  benefit  by  them.  Sixthly,  That  auricular  [ibid. 
"  confession  was  expedient  and  necessary,  and  ought  to  be  p'  74°"J 
"  retained  in  the  church.  The  parliament  thanked  the  king 
"  for  the  pains  he  had  taken  in  these  articles  :  and  enacted, 
"  that  if  any,  after  the  twelfth  of  July,  did  speak,  preach, 
"  or  write  against  the  first  article,  they  were  to  be  judged 
"  heretics,  and  to  be  burnt  without  any  abjuration,  and  to 
"  forfeit  their  real  and  personal  estates  to  the  king.  And  those 
"  who  preached,  or  obstinately  disputed  against  the  other 
"  articles,  were  to  be  judged  felons,  and  to  suffer  death  as 
"  felons,  without  benefit  of  clergy.  And  those  who,  either  in 
"  word  or  writing,  spake  against  them,  were  to  be  prisoners 
"  during  the  king's  pleasure,  and  forfeit  their  goods  and 
"  chattels  to  the  king,  for  the  first  time  :  and  if  they  offended 
"  so  the  second  time,  they  were  to  suffer  as  felons.  All  the  [Ibid. 
"  marriages  of  priests  are  declared  void  ;  and  if  any  priest  did  p' 741'^ 
"  still  keep  any  such  woman,  whom  he  had  so  married,  and  lived 
"  familiarly  with  her,  as  with  his  wife,  he  was  to  be  judged 
"  a  felon  :  and  if  a  priest  lived  carnally  with  any  other  woman, 
"  he  was  upon  the  first  conviction  to  forfeit  his  benefices,  goods, 
"  and  chattels,  and  to  be  imprisoned  during  the  king's  pleasure ; 
"  and  upon  the  second  conviction,  was  to  suffer  as  a  felon. 


416 


THE    HISTORY  OF 


[part 


[Ibid. 

P-  742-] 


[Ibid.  p. 
743-] 


Which  is 
variously 
censured. 


"  The  women  so  offending  were  also  to  be  punished  in  the 
"  same  manner  as  the  priests  :  and  those  who  contemned, 
"  or  abstained  from  confession,  or  the  sacrament,  at  the 
"  accustomed  times,  for  the  first  offence  were  to  forfeit  their 
"  goods  and  chattels,  and  be  imprisoned ;  and  for  the  second, 
"  were  to  be  adjudged  of  felony.  And,  for  the  execution  of 
"  this  act,  commissions  were  to  be  issued  out  to  all  archbishops 
"  and  bishops,  and  their  chancellors  and  commissaries,  and 
"  such  others  in  the  several  shires  as  the  king  should  name,  to 
"  hold  their  sessions  quarterly,  or  oftener  ;  and  they  were  to 
"  proceed  upon  presentments,  and  by  a  jury.  Those  com- 
"  missioners  were  to  swear,  that  they  should  execute  their 
"  commission  indifferently,  without  favour,  affection,  corruption, 
"  or  malice.  All  ecclesiastical  incumbents  were  to  read  this 
"  act  in  their  churches  once  a  quarter.  And,  in  the  end,  a 
"  proviso  was  added,  concerning  vows  of  chastity :  that  they 
"  should  not  oblige  any,  except  such  as  had  taken  them  at 
"  or  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  ;  or  had  not  been  com- 
"  pelled  to  take  them." 

This  act  was  received  by  all  that  secretly  favoured  popery 
with  great  joy ;  for  now  they  hoped  to  be  revenged  on  all 
those  who  had  hitherto  set  forward  a  reformation.  It  very 
much  quieted  the  bigots,  who  were  now  persuaded  that  the 
king  would  not  set  up  heresy,  since  he  passed  so  severe  an  act  260 
against  it ;  and  it  made  the  total  suppression  of  monasteries  go 
the  more  easily  through.  The  popish  clergy  liked  all  the  act 
very  well,  except  that  severe  branch  of  it  against  their  un- 
chaste practices.  This  was  put  in  by  Cromwell,  to  make  it 
cut  with  both  edges.  (Some  of  our  inconsiderate  writers,  who 
never  perused  the  statutes,  tell  us,  it  was  done  by  a  different 
act  of  parliament;  but  greater  faults  must  be  forgiven  them 
who  write  upon  hearsay.)  There  was  but  one  comfort  that 
the  poor  reformers  could  pick  out  of  the  whole  act ;  that  they 
were  not  left  to  the  mercy  of  the  clergy,  and  their  ecclesiasti- 
cal courts,  but  were  to  be  tried  by  a  jury  ;  where  they  might 
expect  more  candid  and  gentle  dealing.  Yet  the  denying  them 
the  benefit  of  abjuration,  was  a  severity  beyond  what  had  ever 
been  put  in  practice  before :  so  now  they  began  to  prepare  for 
new  storms,  and  a  heavy  persecution. 

The  other  chief  business  of  this  parliament  was,  the  suppres- 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (15390  417 

sion  of  monasteries.     It  is  said  in  the  preamble  of  that  act,  An  act  a- 
"  that   divers   abbots,   priors,   and   other   heads   of  religious  ^'^ 
"  houses,  had,  since  the  fourth  of  February  in  the  twenty- sion  of  the 
"  seventh  year  of  the  king's  reign,  without  constraint,  of  their  monas- 
"  own  accord,  and  according  to  the  due  course  of  the  common  teries- 

TCan    13 

"  law,  by  sufficient  writings  of  record,  under  their  convent-  statutes, 

"  seals,  given  up  their  houses,  and  all  that  belonged  to  them,  vo1,  "1-  P- 

"  to  the  king.     Therefore  all  houses  that  were  since  that  time 

"  suppressed,  dissolved,  relinquished,  forfeited,  or  given  up, 

"  are  confirmed  to  the  king  and  his  successors  for  ever :  and 

"  all  monasteries  that  should  thereafter  be  suppressed,  for- 

"  feited,  or  given  up,  are  also  confirmed  to  the  king  and  his 

"  successors.     And  all  these  houses,  with  the  rents  belonging 

"  to  them,  were  to  be  disposed  of  by  the  court  of  augmenta- 

"  tions  for  the  king's  profit;  excepting  only  such  as  were  come 

"  into  the  king's  hands  by  attainders  of  treason,  which   be- 

"  longed  to  the  exchequer :   reserving  to  all  persons,  except 

"  the  patrons,  founders,  and  donors  of  such  houses,  the  same 

"  right  to  any  parts  of  them,  or  jurisdiction  in  them,  which 

"  they  could  have  claimed  if  that  act  had  never  been  made. 

"  Then  followed   many  clauses   for  annulling  all  deeds  and 

"  leases  made  within  one  year  before  the  suppression  of  any 

"  religious  house,  to  the  prejudice  of  it,  or  different  from  what 

"  had  been  granted  formerly.     And  all  churches  or  chapels, 

"  which  belonged  to  these  monasteries,  and  were  formerly  ex- 

"  empted  from  the  visitation  or  jurisdiction  of  their  ordinary, 

"  are  declared  to  be  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of 

"  the  diocese,  or  of  any  other  that  should  be  appointed  by  the 

"  king." 

This  act  passed  in  the  house  of  peers  without  any  protesta-  [May  13. 
tion  made  by  any  of  the  abbots,  though  it  appears  by  the  j^1™  s  ° 
Journal,  that,  at  the  first  reading  of  it,  there  were  eighteen  p- 108.] 
abbots  present ;  at  the  second  reading,  twenty  ;  and  seventeen  ibid  ] 
at  the  third  reading  ;    and  the  abbots  of  Glastonbury,  Col-  f^ay  I0- 
chester,  and  Reading,  were  among  those  who  were  present59 ;  P.  no.] 

59  [At  the  second  reading  there  Glastonbury  present  on  either  occa- 

were  only  eighteen  abbots  present,  sion.      See  Journals  of  Lords,  pp. 

and  at  the  third  reading  only  six-  108-110.] 
teen  ;    neither  was    the    abbot   of 

BURNET,  PART  I.  E  e 


418  THE  HISTORY  OF  [pakt  i. 

so  little  reason  there  is  to  think  they  were  attainted  for  any- 
open  withstanding  the  king's  proceedings,  when  they  did  not 
protest  against  this  act,  which  was  so  plainly  levelled  at  them. 
It  was  soon  despatched  by  the  commons,  and  offered  to  the 
royal  assent.  By  it  no  religious  houses  were  suppressed,  as  is 
generally  taken  for  granted ;  but  only  the  surrenders,  that 
cither  had  been,  or  were  to  be  made,  were  confirmed.  The  2G1 
last  proviso,  for  annulling  all  exemptions  of  churches  and 
chapels,  had  been  a  great  happiness  to  the  church,  if  it  had 
[Statutes,  not  been  for  that  clause,  that  the  king  might  appoint  others 
vol  m.  p.     f0  visit  them ;  which  in  a  great  degree  did  enervate  it.     For 

738.]  '  fcs  to 

many  of  those  who  afterwards  purchased  these  lands,  with  the 
impropriated  tithes,  got  this  likewise  in  their  grants,  that  they 
should  be  the  visitors  of  the  churches  and  chapels  formerly 
exempted :  from  whence  great  disorders  have  since  followed 
in  these  churches,  which  not  falling  within  the  bishop's  juris- 
diction, are  thought  not  liable  to  his  censures ;  so  that  the  in- 
cumbents in  them,  being  under  no  restraints,  have  often  been 
scandalous  to  the  church,  and  given  occasion  to  those  who  were 
disaffected  to  the  hierarchy,  to  censure  the  prelates  for  these 
offences  which  they  could  not  punish ;  since  the  offenders  were 
thus  excepted  out  of  their  jurisdiction.  This  abuse,  which  first 
sprang  from  the  ancient  exemptions  that  were  confirmed  or 
granted  by  the  see  of  Rome,  has  not  yet  met  with  an  effectual 
remedy. 

Upon  the  whole  matter,  this  suppression  of  abbeys  was  uni- 
versally censured ;  and,  besides  the  common  exceptions,  which 
those  that  favoured  the  old  superstition  made,  it  was  ques- 
tioned, whether  the  lands  that  formerly  belonged  to  religious 
houses  ought  to  have  returned  to  the  founders  and  donors  by 
way  of  reverter,  or  to  have  fallen  to  the  lords  of  whom  the 
lands  were  holden,  by  the  way  of  escheat,  or  to  have  come  to 
the  crown  ?  It  is  true,  by  the  Roman  law,  or  at  least  by  a 
judgment  of  the  senate  in  Theodosius'  time,  the  endowments  of 
the  heathenish  temples  were,  upon  a  full  debate,  whether  they 
should  return  to  the  right  heirs,  or  be  confiscated,  in  the  end 
adjudged  to  the  fisc,  or  the  emperor's  exchequer,  upon  this 
reason ;  that,  by  the  will  of  the  donors,  they  were  totally 
alienated  from  them  and  their  heirs.     But  in  England  it  went 


I 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  419 

otherwise.  And  when  the  order  of  the  knights  templars  was 
dissolved,  it  was  then  judged  in  favour  of  the  lord  by  escheat60. 
For  though  the  founders  and  donors  had  totally  alienated 
these  lands  from  themselves  and  their  heirs,  yet  there  was  no 
reason  from  thence  to  conclude  any  thing  that  might  wrong 
the  superior  lord  of  his  right  in  the  case  of  an  escheat.  And 
this  must  have  held  good,  if  those  alienations  and  endowments 
had  been  absolute,  without  any  condition :  but  the  endowments 
being  generally  rather  of  the  nature  of  covenants  and  con- 
tracts, and  made  in  consideration  of  so  many  masses  to  be  said 
for  their  souls ;  then  it  was  most  just,  that,  upon  a  non-per- 
formance of  the  condition,  and  when  that  public  error  and 
cheat,  which  the  monks  had  put  upon  the  world,  was  discovered, 
the  lands  should  have  returned  to  the  founders  and  patrons, 
and  their  heirs  and  successors.  Nor  was  there  any  grounds 
for  the  lords  to  pretend  to  them  by  escheat,  especially  where 
their  ancestors  had  consented  to,  and  confirmed  those  endow- 
ments. Therefore  there  was  no  need  of  excluding  them  by  any 
special  proviso.  But  for  the  founders  and  donors,  certainly  if 
there  had  not  been  a  particular  proviso  made  against  them,  they 
might  have  recovered  the  lands  which  their  ancestors  had 
superstitiously  given  away  ;  and  the  surrenders,  which  religious 
2G2  persons  made  to  the  crown,  could  not  have  cut  off  their  title. 
•But  this  act  did  that  effectually.  It  is  true,  many  of  the 
greatest  of  them  were  of  royal  foundation ;  and  these  would 
have  returned  to  the  crown  without  dispute. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  May,  in  this  session  of  parliament,  a  [Journals 
bill  was  brought  in  by  Cromwell  for  giving  the  king  power  to  °  x  j0^8' 
erect  new  bishoprics  by  his  letters  patents.     It  was  read  that  Another 

i         c  1  1  •    1      •  i  ii  about  the 

day  for  the  first,  second,  and  third  time ;    and  sent  down  to  erecting 
the  commons.     The  preamble  of  it  was,  "  that  it  was  known  n,ew  h}~ 

1  shopnes. 

"  what  slothful  and  ungodly  life  had  been  led  by  those  who  [Cap.  9. 
"  were  called  religious.     But  that  these  houses  might  be  con-  statutey> 
"  verted  to  better  uses ;  that  God's  word  might  be  better  set  vol.  iii.  p, 
"  forth,  children  brought  up  in  learning,  clerks  nourished  in 
"  the  universities,  and  that  old  decayed  servants  might  have 
"  livings  ;    poor  people   might  have   almshouses   to  maintain 

00  Quaere.  Because  by  the  statute  Templars',  but  those  lands  were  to 
tie  terris  Templariorum,  neither  the  remain  to  the  prior  and  brethren  of 
king  nor  the  lords  were  to  have  by  the  order  of  the  hospital  of  St.  John 
escheat   the    lands    that   were    the     of  Jerusalem.  [G.] 

e  e  2 


420 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Cotton 
MSS. 
Cleop.  E. 
v.  and  vi. 
passim.] 


Collect. 
Addenda, 
Numb.  12. 


••'  them ;  readers  of  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Latin,  might  have 
"  good  stipend  ;  daily  alms  might  be  ministered,  and  allow- 
"  ance  might  be  made  for  mending  of  the  highways,  and  ex- 
"  hibition  for  ministers  of  the  church ;  for  these  ends,  if  the 
"  king  thought  fit  to  have  more  bishoprics  or  cathedral 
"  churches  erected  out  of  the  rents  of  these  houses,  full  power 
"  was  given  to  him  to  erect  and  found  them,  and  to  make 
"  rules  and  statutes  for  them,  and  such  translations  of  sees,  or 
"  divisions  of  them,  as  he  thought  fit."  But  on  this  act  I  must 
add  a  singular  remark.  The  preamble  and  material  parts  of 
it  were  drawn  by  the  king  himself;  and  the  first  draught  of  it, 
under  his  hand,  is  yet  extant ;  which  shews  his  extraordinary 
application  and  understanding  of  business. 

**  There  I  mention  the  king's  diligence  in  drawing  an  act  of 
parliament  with  his  own  hand ;  but,  since  that  was  printed,  I 
have  seen  many  other  acts  and  papers,  if  not  originally  penned 
by  the  king,  yet  so  much  altered  by  his  corrections,  that  in 
some  sort  they  may  be  esteemed  his  draughts.  There  are  two 
draughts  of  the  act  of  the  six  articles,  both  corrected  in  many 
places  by  the  king ;  and  in  some  of  these  the  correction  is 
three  lines  long.  There  is  another  act  concerning  precontracts 
of  marriage,  likewise  corrected  very  much  by  his  pen.  Many 
draughts  of  proclamations,  particularly  these  about  the  use  of 
the  Bible  in  English,  are  yet  extant,  interlined  and  altered' 
with  his  pen.  There  is  a  large  paper  written  by  Tunstall,  of 
arguments  for  purgatory,  with  copious  animadversions  on  it, 
likewise  written  by  the  king ;  which  shew  that  then  he  did 
not  believe  there  was  a  purgatory.  I  have  also  seen  the 
draught  of  that  part  of  the  Necessary  Erudition  for  a  Christian 
Man,  which  explains  the  Creed,  full  of  corrections  with  the 
king's  own  pen ;  as  also  the  queries  concerning  the  sacraments, 
mentioned  in  page  289,  with  large  annotations  written  with  his 
hand  on  the  margin ;  likewise  an  extract,  all  written  with  his 
own  hand,  of  passages  out  of  the  fathers  against  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy :  and,  to  conclude,  there  is  a  paper,  with  which 
the  Collection  ends,  containing  the  true  notion  of  the  catholic 
church,  which  has  large  emendations  added  with  the  king's 
hand ;  those  I  have  set  by  themselves  on  the  margin  of  the 
paper.  *  * 

But  in  the  same  paper  there  is  a  list  of  the  sees  which  he 
intended  to  found ;  of  which  what  was  done  afterwards  came 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  421 

so  far  short,  that  I  know  nothing  to  which  it  can  be  so  reason- 
ably imputed,  as  the  declining  of  Cranmer's  interest  at  court, 
who  had  proposed  the  erecting  of  new  cathedrals  and  sees, 
with  other  things  mentioned  in  the  preamble  of  the  statute, 
as  a  great  mean  for  reforming  the  church.  The  sees  Avhich  The  king's 
the  king  then  designed,  with  the  abbeys  out  of  which  they  ^ouf  these 
were  to  be  erected,  follow,  as  it  is  in  the  paper  under  the  [Cotton 

MSS 

king's  own  hand  :  cleop  E 

iv.fol.304.] 

Essex,    Waltham. 

Hertford,  St.  Alban's. 

Bedfordshire   and  Bucking- }  Dunstable,   Newenham,  Elve- 

hamshire,    )       ston. 

Oxford  and  Berkshire, Osency  and  Thame. 

Northampton  and  Huntingdon,  Peterborough. 

Middlesex, Westminster. 

Leicester  and  Rutland, Leicester. 

Gloucestershire,    St.  Peter's. 

T  ,  ( Fountains,  and  the   archdea- 

Lancaster, ->  «t».  ,  i 

(      conry  01  Richmond. 

Suffolk, Bury. 

Stafford  and  Salop,  Shrewsbury. 

,T  ...     ,  ,  „    ,  ( Welbeck,     Worksop,     Thur- 

JNottino-ham  and  Derby,    .,.  1 

&  J  I      garton. 

„  „  ( Launceston,  Bodmin,  Tywar- 

Cornwall, ->       ,    ^ 

I      dreth. 

Over  these  is  written,  Bishoprics  to  be  made.  In  another 
corner  of  the  page  he  writes  as  follows  : 

Places  to  be  altered  according  to  our  device,  which  have 
sees  in  them.  Christ-Church  in  Canterbury,  St.  Sivithin's, 
Ely,  Durham,  Rochester,  with  a  part  of  Hyde,  Worcester,  and 
all  others  having  the  same.  Then  a  little  below  :  Places  to  be 
altered  into  colleges  and  schools :  Worle,  Burton  super  Trent. 
More  is  not  written  in  that  paper.  But  I  wonder  much,  that 
in  this  list  Chester  was  forgotten61 :  yet  it  was  erected  before 
any  of  them ;  for  I  have  seen  a  commission  under  the  privy- 

61  No  wonder  Chester  was   not  former  might  be  surrendered  and 

there  mentioned,  since  it  was  erected  cancelled,  probably  because  of  some 

before.     And  so  it  might  well  be,  mention  made  in  it  of  the  pope's 

though  the  charter  for  the  present  bull  of  which  you  speak,  p.  (121.) 

foundation  bears  date  after  ;  for  the  [F.] 


THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

seal,  to  the  bishop  of  Chester,  to  take  the  surrender  of 
the  monastery  of  Haghmon  in  Shropshire,  bearing  date  the 
twenty-fourth  of  August  this  year6-.  So  it  seems  the  see  of 
Chester  was  erected  and  endowed  before  the  act  passed,  though 
there  is  among  the  rolls  a  charter  for  endowing  and  founding 
of  it  afterwards.  Bristol  is  not  mentioned  in  this  paper,  though 
a  see  was  afterwards  erected  there.  It  was  not  before  the  end 
of  the  next  year  that  these  sees  were  founded  ;  and  there  was 
in  that  interval  so  great  a  change  made,  both  of  the  counsels 
and  ministers,  that  no  wonder  the  things  now  designed  were 
never  accomplished. 
[June  26.        Another  act  passed  in  this  parliament,  concerning  the  obedi- 

Journals  of  ,  .       ,  .       ,  -  . 

Lords,        ence  due  to  the  king  s  proclamations,     lhere  had  been  great 

p.  123.]      exceptions  made  to  the  legality  of  the  king's  proceedings  in 

the  articles  about  religion,   and  other  injunctions  published 

by  his  authority,  which  were  complained  of  as  contrary  to  law ; 

since  by  these  the  king  had,  without  consent  of  parliament, 

altered  some  laws,  and  had  laid  taxes  on  his  spiritual  subjects. 

An  act        Upon  which  an  act  passed,  which  sets  forth  in  the  preamble, 

king's  pro-  "  *ne  contempt  and  disobedience  of  the  king's  proclamations, 

clamations.  «  by  some  who  did  not  consider  what  a  king  by  his  roval 

TCaii  o  »  o       d  v 

statutes,     "  power  might  do ;  which,  if  it  continued,  would  tend  to  the 

vol.  in.  p.    a  disobedience  of  the  laws  of  God,  and  the  dishonour  of  the 
726.]  .  . 

"  king's  majesty,  (who  may  full  ill  bear  it.)     Considering  also, 

"  that  many  occasions  might  require  speedy  remedies,  and  that 
"  delaying  these  till  a  parliament  met  might  occasion  great 
"  prejudices  to  the  realm  ;  and  that  the  king,  by  his  royal  power 
"  given  of  God,  might  do  many  things  in  such  cases  :  therefore 
"  it  is  enacted,  that  the  king  for  the  time  being,  with  advice  of 
"  his  council,  might  set  forth  proclamations,  with  pains  and 
"  penalties  in  them,  which  were  to  be  obeyed  as  if  they  were 
"  made  by  an  act  of  parliament.  But  this  was  not  to  be 
"  so  extended,  that  any  of  the  king's  subjects  should  suffer  in 
"  their  estates,  liberties,  or  persons,  by  virtue  of  it :  nor  that 
"  by  it  any  of  the  king's  proclamations,  laws,  or  customs  were 
"  to  be  broken  and  subverted."  Then  follow  some  clauses 
about  the  publishing  of  proclamations,  and  the  way  of  prosecut- 
ing those  who  contemned  and  disobeyed  them.  It  is  also 
added,   "  that  if  any  offended  against  them,-  and,  in  further 

02    [It   was   surrendered   Sept.   9.   1539.     See   Dugdale,    Monasticon 
Anglieanum,  vi.  p.  107.] 


book  iil]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  423 

"  contempt,  went  out  of  the  realm,  he  was  to  be  adjudged 
"  a  traitor.  This  also  gave  power  to  the  counsellors  of  the 
"  king's  successor,  if  he  were  under  age,  to  set  forth  proclama- 
"  tions  in  his  name,  which  were  to  be  obeyed  in  the  same 
"  manner  with  these  set  forth  by  the  king  himself."  This  act 
gave  great  power  to  the  judges,  since  there  were  such  restric- 
tions in  some  branches  of  it,  which  seemed  to  lessen  the  great 
extent  of  the  other  parts  of  it ;  so  that  the  expositors  of  the 
law  had  much  referred  to  them.  Upon  this  act  were  the  great 
changes  of  religion  in  the  nonage  of  Edward  the  Sixth 
grounded. 

There  is  another  act,  which  but  collaterally  belongs  to  eccle-  An  act 
siastical  affairs,  and  therefore  shall  be  but  slightly  touched.    It  cedenceT 
is  the  act  of  the  precedency  of  the  officers  of  state,  by  which  the  [Cap.  10. 

Statutes 

lord  vicegerent  has  the  precedence  of  all  persons  in  the  king-  vo'i.  &.  p. 
doin,  next  the  royal  family  :    and  on  this  I  must  make  one  729l 
remark,  which  may  seem  very  improper  for  one  of  my  profes- 
sion, especially  when  it  is  an  animadversion  on  one  of  the 
greatest  men  that  any  age  has  produced ;  the  most  learned 
Mr.  Selden.     He,  in  his  Titles  of  Honour,  says,  "  That  this  [Selden's 
"  statute  was  never  printed  in   the   Statute-Book,   and  but  voi  ^ p> 
"  incorrectly  by  another  ;    and  that  therefore   he   inserts  it  9I^td* 
"  literally,  as  it  is  in  the  record."     In  which  there  are  two 
mistakes :  for  it  is  printed  in  the  Statute-Book  that  was  set 
out  in  that  king's  reign,  though  left  out  in  some  later  Statute- 
Books :    and  that  which  he  prints  is  not  exactly  according 
to  the  record.     For,  as  he  prints  it,  the  bishop  of  London 
is  not  named  in  the  precedency,  which  is  not  according  to 
"  the  parliament-roll,  in  which  the  bishop  of  London  has  the 
precedence  next  the  archbishop  of  York  ;    and  though  this 
is  corrected  in  a  posthumous  edition,  yet  in  that  set  out  by 
himself  it  is  wanting  :  nor  is  that  omission  among  the  errors  of 
the  press  ;  for,  though  there  are  many  of  these  gathered  to  be 
amended,  this  is  none  of  them.     This  I  do  not  take  notice 
of  out  of  any  vanity,  or  humour  of  censuring  a  man  so  great  in 
all  sorts  of  learning;  but  my  design  is  only  to  let  ingenious 
persons  see,  that  they  ought  not  to  take  things  on  trust  easily, 
no,  not  from  the  greatest  authors. 

These  are  all  the  public  acts  that  relate  to  religion,  which  Some  acts 
were  passed  in  this  parliament.     With  these  there  passed  an  ^    m" 


424  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

[Cata-        act  of  attainder  of  the  marquis  of  Exeter,  and  the  lord  Monta- 

logued,  but  ■*  •ij.ii 

not  printed  cute,  with  many  others,  that  were  either  found  to  have  had  a 

statut      f  Sreat  hand  in  the  late  rebellion,  or  were  discovered  to  hold 

the  Realm,  correspondence  with  cardinal  Pole,  who  was  then  trafficking 

caP-  *5-J      wjth  foreign   princes,  and  projecting  a  league  among  them 

against  the  king.     But  of  this  I  shall  give  a  more  full  account 

at  the  end  of  this  book63 ;  being  there  to  open  the  grounds  of  all 

the  attainders  that  were  passed  in  these  last  years  of  the  king's 

reign.    There  is  one  remarkable  thing  that  belongs  to  this  act. 

Some  were  to  be  attainted  in  absence ;  others  they  had  no 

mind  to  bring  to  make  their  answer,  but  yet  designed  to  attaint 

them.    Such  were,  the  marchioness  of  Exeter,  and  the  countess 

of  Sarum,  mother  to  cardinal  Pole,  whom,  by  a  gross  mistake, 

[Speed,       Speed  fancies  to  have  been  condemned  without  arraignment  or 

p.  I02Q.1  .  ,  " 

trial,  as  Cromwell  had  been  by  parliament :  for  she  was  now 
condemned  a  year  before  him.  About  the  justice  of  doing  this 
there  was  some  debate ;  and,  to  clear  it,  Cromwell  sent  for  the 
judges,  and  asked  their  opinions,  Whether  a  man  might  be 
attainted  in  parliament,  without  being  brought  to  make  his 
answer  ?  They  said,  It  was  a  dangerous  question.  That  the 
parliament  ought  to  be  an  example  to  all  inferior  courts  ;  and 
that,  when  any  person  was  charged  with  a  crime,  he,  by  the 
common  rule  of  justice  and  equity,  should  be  heard  to  plead  %65 
for  himself.  But  the  parliament  being  the  supreme  court  of 
the  nation,  what  way  soever  they  proceeded,  it  must  be  good 
in  law  ;  and  it  could  never  be  questioned,  whether  the  party 
was  brought  to  answer  or  not :  and  thus  a  very  ill  precedent 
was  made,  by  which  the  most  innocent  person  in  the  world 
might  be  ruined.  And  this,  as  has  often  been  observed  in  the 
like  cases,  fell  very  soon  heavily  on  the  author  of  the  counsel ; 
as  shall  appear. 
[J°unials  When  the  parliament  was  prorogued,  on  the  twenty-eighth 
124.]  of  June,  the  king  apprehended  that  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 

king  s  kul,y  might  be  much  cast  clown  with  the  act  for  the  six  articles, 

care  01  J         t-> 

Cranmer.  sent  for  him,  and  told  him,  that  he  had  heard  how  much,  and 
Britain  w*th  what  learning,  he  had  argued  against  it ;  and  therefore 
vita  he  desired  he  would  put  all  his  arguments  in  writing,  and 

Cranmer.  .  . 

p. 498.]      bring  them  to  him.     Next  day  he  sent  the  dukes  of  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk,  and  the  lord  Cromwell,  to  dine  with  him  :  order - 
63  [See  infra,  p.  351  sqq.] 


book- in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  425 

ing  them  to  assure  him  of  the  king's  constant  and  unshaken 
kindness  to  him,  and  to  encourage  him  all  they  could.  When 
they  were  at  table  with  him  at  Lambeth,  they  run  out  much 
on  his  commendation,  and  acknowledged  he  had  opposed  the 
act  with  so  much  learning,  gravity,  and  eloquence,  that  even 
those  that  differed  from  him  were  much  taken  with  what 
lie  said ;  and  that  he  needed  fear  nothing  from  the  king. 
Cromwell  saying,  that  this  difference  the  king  put  between  him 
and  all  his  other  counsellors;  that  when  complaints  were 
brought  of  others,  the  king  received  them,  and  tried  the  truth 
of  them ;  but  he  would  not  so  much  as  hearken  to  any  com- 
plaint of  the  archbishop.  From  that  he  went  on  to  make 
a  parallel  between  him  and  cardinal  Wolsey ;  that  the  one  lost 
his  friends  by  his  haughtiness  and  pride,  but  the  other  gained 
on  his  enemies  by  his  gentleness  and  mildness.  Upon  which 
the  duke  of  Norfolk  said,  he  might  best  speak  of  the  cardinal, 
for  he  knew  him  well,  having  been  his  man.  This  nettled 
Cromwell;  who  answered,  that,  though  he  had  served  him, 
yet  he  never  liked  his  manners  :  and  that,  though  the  cardinal 
had  designed  (if  his  attempt  for  the  popedom  had  been  success- 
ful) to  have  made  him  his  admiral ;  yet  he  had  resolved  not  to 
accept  of  it,  nor  to  leave  his  country.  To  which  the  duke  of 
Norfolk  replied62,  with  a  deep  oath,  that  he  lied;  with  other  [Ibid- 
reproachful  language.  This  troubled  Cranmer  extremely,  who 
did  all  he  could  to  quiet  and  reconcile  them.  But  now  the 
enmity  between  those  two  great  ministers  broke  out  to  that 
height,  that  they  were  never  afterwards  hearty  friends. 

But  Cranmer  went  about  that  which  the  kino;  had  com-  Cranmer 

0  writes  In-. 

manded ;   and  made  a  book  of  the  reasons  that  led  him  to  reasons 
oppose  the  six  articles :  in  which  the  places  out  of  the  scrip-  Particles6 
tures,  the  authorities  of  the  ancient  doctors,  with  the  arguments  [Fox,  vol. 
drawn  from  these,  were  all  digested  in  a  good  method.     This    '     4 
he  commanded  his  secretary  to  write  out  in  a  fair  hand,  that  it 
might  be  given  to  the  king.     The  secretary  returning  with  it 
from  Croydon,  where  the  archbishop  was  then,  to  Lambeth, 
found  the  key  of  his  chamber  was  carried  away  by  the  arch- 

62  Fox  adds  another  passage  of  he  was  never  so  far  in  love  with 

that   discourse   between    Cromwell  Wolsey,  as  to  have  waited  on  him 

and   the   duke   of  Norfolk,   which  to  Rome,  as  he  understood  the  duke 

perhaps  offended  him  much  ;  that  of  Norfolk  would  have  done.    [F.] 


426 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Proceed- 
ings upon 
that  act. 


[July  i. 
Stow,  p. 
577-1 


bishop's  almoner  :  so  that  he,  being  obliged  to  go  over  to 
London,  and  not  daring  to  trust  the  book  to  any  other's  keep- 
ing, carried  it  with  himself:  where  both  he  and  the  book  met 
with  an  unlooked-for  encounter.  Some  others,  that  were  with  266 
him  in  the  wherry,  would  needs  go  to  the  Southwark  side,  to 
look  on  a  bear-baiting  that  was  near  the  river,  where  the  king 
was  in  person.  The  bear  broke  loose  into  the  river,  and  the 
dogs  after  her.  They  that  were  in  the  boat  leaped  out,  and 
left  the  poor  secretary  alone  there.  But  the  bear  got  into  the 
boat,  with  the  dogs  about  her,  and  sunk  it.  The  secretary, 
apprehending  his  life  was  in  danger,  did  not  mind  his  book  ; 
which  he  lost  in  the  water :  but,  being  quickly  rescued,  and 
brought  to  land,  he  began  to  look  for  his  book,  and  saw  it 
floating  in  the  river.  So  he  desired  the  bearward  to  bring 
it  to  him  ;  who  took  it  up  :  but,  before  he  would  restore  it,  put 
it  into  the  hands  of  a  priest  that  stood  there,  to  see  what  it 
might  contain.  The  priest,  reading  a  little  in  it,  found  it  a 
confutation  of  the  six  articles;  and  told  the  bearward,  that 
whosoever  claimed  it  would  be  hanged  for  his  pains.  But  the 
archbishop's  secretary,  thinking  to  mend  the  matter,  said, 
it  was  his  lord's  book.  This  made  the  bearward  more  in- 
tractable; for  he  was  a  spiteful  papist,  and  hated  the  arch- 
bishop :  so  that  no  offers  nor  entreaties  could  prevail  with  him 
to  give  it  back.  Whereupon  Morice  (that  was  the  secretary's 
name)  went  and  opened  the  matter  to  Cromwell  the  next  day : 
Cromwell  was  then  going  to  court,  and  he  expected  to  find  the 
bearward  there,  looking  to  deliver  the  book  to  some  of  Cran- 
mer's  enemies  ;  he  therefore  ordered  Morice  to  go  along  with 
him.  Where,  as  they  had  expected,  they  found  the  fellow 
with  the  book  about  him ;  upon  whom  Cromwell  called,  and 
took  the  book  out  of  his  hands,  threatening  him  severely  for  his 
presumption  in  meddling  with  a  privy  counsellor's  book. 

But  though  Cranmer  escaped  this  hazard,  yet  in  London  the 
storm  of  the  late  act  was  falling  heavily  on  them  that  were 
obnoxious.  Shaxton  and  Latimer,  the  bishops  of  Salisbury 
and  Worcester,  within  a  week  after  the  session  of  parliament, 
as  it  appears,  resigned  their  bishoprics.  For  on  the  seventh  of 
July  the  chapters  of  these  churches  petitioned  the  king  for  his 
leave  to  fill  these  sees,  they  being  then  vacant  by  the. free 
resignation   of  the  former  bishops.     Upon  which   the  conge 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  427 

cl'elire  for  both  was  granted.  Nor  was  this  all :  but  they,  [Rymer, 
being-  presented  as  having  spoken  against  the  six  articles,  were  glvx'  *£'  , 
put  in  prison ;  where  the  one  lay  till  the  king  died,  and  the 
other  till  a  little  before  his  death,  as  shall  be  shewn  in  its 
proper  place.  There  were  also  commissions  issued  out  for 
proceeding  upon  that  statute :  and  those  who  were  commis- 
sioned for  London  were  all  secret  favourers  of  popery  ;  so  they 
proceeded  most  severely,  and  examined  many  witnesses  against 
all  who  were  presented  ;  whom  they  interrogated,  not  only 
upon  the  express  words  of  the  statute,  but  upon  all  such 
collateral  or  presumptive  circumstances,  as  might  entangle 
them,  or  conclude  them  guilty.  So  that,  in  a  very  little  while, 
five  hundred  persons  were  put  in  prison,  and  involved  in  the 
breach  of  the  statute.  Upon  this,  not  only  Cranmer  and 
Cromwell,  but  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  and  Audley  the  chancellor, 
represented  to  the  king  how  hard  it  would  be,  and  of  what  ill 
consequence,  to  execute  the  law  upon  so  many  persons.  So 
the  king  was  prevailed  with  to  pardon  them  all :  and  I  find  no 
further  proceeding  upon  this  statute  till  Cromwell  fell. 

But  the  opposite  party  used  all  the  arts  possible  to  insinuate 
267  themselves  into  the  king  6;3.    And  therefore,  to  shew  how  far 
their  compliance  would  go,  Bonner  took  a  strange  commission 
from  the  king,  on  the  twelfth  of  November  this  year.     It  has 
been  certainly  enrolled ;  but  it  is  not  there  now :  so  that  I 
judge  it  was  razed  in  that  suppression  of  records,  which  was 
in  queen  Mary's  time.     But,  as  men  are  commonly  more  care- 
less at  home,  Bonner  has  left  it  on  record  in  his  own  register.  [Registr. 
Whether  the  other  bishops  took  such  commissions  from  this  f0i.  ( i ' 
king,  I  know  not :    but  I  am  certain  there  is  none  such  in 
Cranmer's  register ;  and  it  is  not  likely,  if  any  such  had  been 
taken  out  by  him,  that  ever  it  would  have  been  razed.     The 
commission  itself  will  be  found  in  the  Collection  of  papers  at  Collect, 
the  end.     The  substance  of  it  is,  "  That,  since  all  jurisdiction, 1  um3'  I4' 
"  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  flowed  from  the  king  as  supreme 
"  head,  and  he  was  the  foundation  of  all  power  ;  it  became 
"  those,  who  exercised  it  only  (jweccario)  at  the  king's  courtesy, 
"  gratefully  to   acknowledge,  that  they  had  it   only  of  his 

63  This  does  not  seem  to  agree     another  part,  now  he  began  to  shew 
with  what  is   said    after,    p.  299,     his  nature,'  &c.   [B.] 
'  Hitherto   he   (Bonner)  had  acted 


THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  bounty  ;  and  to  declare,  that  they  would  deliver  it  up  again 
"  when  it  should  please  him  to  call  for  it.  And  since  the  king 
"  had  constituted  the  lord  Cromwell  his  vicegerent  in  eccle- 
"  siastical  affairs ;  yet,  because  he  could  not  look  into  all  those 
"  matters,  therefore  the  king,  upon  Bonner's  petition,  did 
"  empower  him,  in  his  own  stead,  to  ordain  such  as  he  found 
"  worthy,  to  present  and  give  institution,  with  all  the  other 
"  parts  of  episcopal  authority,  for  which  he  is  duly  commis- 
"  sionated :  and  this  to  last  during  the  king's  pleasure  only. 
"  And  all  the  parts  of  the  episcopal  function  being  reckoned 
"  up,  it  concluded  with  a  strict  charge  to  the  bishop  to  ordain 
"  none  but  such,  of  whose  integrity,  good  life,  and  learning,  he 
"  had  very  good  assurance.  For  as  the  corruptions  of  the 
"  Christian  doctrine,  and  of  men's  manners,  had  chiefly  pro- 
"  ceeded  from  ill  pastors ;  so  it  was  not  to  be  doubted,  but 
"  good  pastors,  well  chosen,  would  again  reform  the  Christian 
"  doctrine,  and  the  lives  of  Christians."  After  he  had  taken 
this  commission,  Bonner  might  have  been  well  called  one  of  the 
king's  bishops.  The  true  reason  of  this  profound  compliance 
was,  that  the  popish  party  apprehended,  that  Cranmer's  great 
interest  with  the  king  was  chiefly  grounded  on  some  opinions 
he  had  of  the  ecclesiastical  officers  being  as  much  subject  to  the 
king's  power  as  all  other  civil  officers  were.  And  this  having 
endeared  him  so  much  to  the  king,  therefore  they  resolved  to 
outdo  him  in  that  point.  But  there  was  this  difference  :  that 
Cranmer  was  once  of  that  opinion,  and,  if  he  followed  it  at  all, 
it  was  out  of  conscience  ;  but  Bonner  against  his  conscience  (if 
he  had  any)  complied  with  it. 
Dissolution  Now  followed  the  final  dissolution  of  the  abbeys :  there 
abbeGfreat  are  n%-seven  surrenders  upon  record  this  year ;  the  origi- 
[Rymer,  nals  of  about  thirty  of  these  are  yet  to  be  seen.  Thirty- 
6qV3  iP'  seven  of  them  were  abbeys  or  priories,  and  twenty  nunneries. 
The  good  house  of  Godstow  now  fell  with  the  rest,  though 
among  the  last  of  them.  Now  the  great  parliament  abbots 
surrendered  apace ;  as  those  of  Westminster,  St.  Alban's, 
St.  Edmundsbury,  Canterbury,  St.  Mary  in  York,  Selby,  St. 
Peter's  in  Gloucester,  Cirencester,  Waltham,  Winchcombe, 
Malmesbury,  and  Battle.  Three  others  were  attainted  ;  Glas- 
tonbury, Reading,  and  Colchester.  The  deeds  of  the  rest  are 
lost.     Here  it  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader  to  know 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  429 

who  were  the  parliamentary  abbots.  There  were  in  all  twenty-  [Fuller,  lib. 
268  eight,  as  they  were   commonly  given :    Fuller   has   given   a  ^F^iy 
catalogue  of  them  in  three  places  of  his  History  of  Abbeys ; 
but  as  every  one  of  these  differs  from  the  others,  so  none  of 
them  are  according  to  the  Journals  of  parliament :  the  lord 
Herbert  is  also  mistaken  in  his  account.     I  shall  not  rise  higher  [Herbert, 
in  my  inquiry  than  this  reign ;  for  anciently  many  more  abbots  p"  5°  '■" 
and  priors  sat  in  parliament,  beside  other  clergy,  that  had 
likewise  their  writs ;  and  of  whose  right  to  sit  in  the  house  of 
commons  there  was  a  question  moved  in  Edward  the  Sixth's 
reign,  as  shall  be  opened  in  its  proper  place.     Much  less  will  I 
presume  to  determine  so  great  a  point  in  law,  Whether  they 
sat  in  the  house  of  lords  as  being  a  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  or  as  holding  their  lands  of  the  king  by  baronage  ?  I  am 
only  to  observe  the  matter  of  fact,  which  is,  that,  in  the  Jour-  [Rymer, 
nals  of  parliament  in  this  reign,  these  twenty-eight  abbots  had  xlv-P-5<>3-] 
their  writs ;    Abingdon,   St.  Alban's,   St.  Austin's  Canterbury, 
Battle,  St.  Bennet's  in  the  Holm,  Bardney,  Cirencester,  Col- 
chester, Coventry,  Croyland,  St.  Edmundsbury,  Evesham,  Glas- 
tonbury, Gloucester,  Hyde,  Malmesbury,  St.  Mary's  in  York, 
Peterborough,  Ramsey,   Reading,   Selby,   Shrewsbury,  Tavi- 
stock,   Tewkesbury,    Thorney,   Waltham,   Westminster,    and 
Winchcombe  ;    to  whom  also  the  prior  of  St.  John's  may  be 
added.     But,  besides  all  these,  I  find  that,  in  the  twenty-eighth  [Journals 
year  of  this  king,  the  abbot  of  Burton  upon  Trent  sat  in  parlia-  g5.] 
ment.     Generally  Coventry  and  Burton  were  held  by  the  same 
man ;  as  one  bishop  held  both  Coventry  and  Lichfield,  though 
two  different  bishoprics61  :  but  in  that  year  they  were  held  by 
two  different  persons,  and  both  had  their  writs  to  that  par- 
liament.    The  method  used  in  the  suppression  of  these  houses 
will  appear  by  one  complete  report  made  of  the  suppression  of 
the  abbey  of  Tewkesbury,  which  out  of  many  I  copied,  and  is 
in  the  Collection.     From  it  the  reader  will  see  what  provision  Collect. 
was  made  for  the  abbot,  the  prior,  the  other  officers,  and  the  ge"™,'  3' 
monks,  and  other  servants  of  the  house ;  and  what  buildings 
they  ordered  to  be  defaced,  and  what  to  remain  ;  and  how  they 

64  Coventry   and   Lichfield  were  Chester.     [F.] 

never  two  different  bishoprics,  but  [There  is  no  instance  of  a  prior  of 

two  different  seats  of  the  same  see,  Coventry  being  also  abbot  of  Bur- 

which   had    sometimes   a  third   at  ton.] 


430 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[PAET  I. 


Some  hos- 
pitals sur- 
rendered. 


The  abbeys 
sold  or 
given 
away. 


A  project 
of  a  semi- 
nary for 
ministers  of 
state. 


did  estimate  the  jewels,  plate,  and  other  ornaments.  But 
monasteries  were  not  sufficient  to  stop  the  appetite  of  some  that 
were  about  the  king ;  for  hospitals  were  next  looked  after. 
One  of  these  was  this  year  surrendered  by  Thomas  Thirlby, 
with  two  other  priests  ;  he  was  master  of  St.  Thomas'  hospital 
in  Southwark,  and  was  designed  bishop  of  Westminster,  to 
which  he  made  his  way  by  that  resignation.  He  was  a  learned 
and  modest  man  ;  but  of  so  fickle  or  cowardly  a  temper,  that 
he  turned  always  with  the  stream,  in  every  change  that  was 
made,  till  queen  Elizabeth  came  to  the  crown :  but  then,  being 
ashamed  of  so  many  turns,  he  resolved  to  shew  he  could  once 
be  firm  to  somewhat. 

Now  were  all  the  monasteries  of  England  suppressed ;  and 
the  king  had  then  in  his  hand  the  greatest  opportunity  of 
making  royal  and  noble  foundations  that  ever  king  of  England 
had.  But,  whether  out  of  policy,  to  give  a  general  content  to 
the  gentry  by  selling  to  them  at  low  rates,  or  out  of  easiness  to 
his  courtiers,  or  out  of  an  unmeasured  lavishness  in  his  expense ; 
it  came  far  short  of  what  he  had  given  out  he  would  do, 
and  what  himself  seemed  once  to  have  designed.  The  clear 
yearly  value  of  all  the  suppressed  houses  is  cast  up,  in  an 
account  then  stated  to  be,  viz.  one  hundred  and  thirty-one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seven  pounds,  six  shillings  and  four  269 
pence,  as  the  rents  were  then  rated  ;  but  was  at  least  ten  times 
so  much  in  true  value.  Of  which  he  designed  to  convert 
eighteen  thousand  pounds  into  a  revenue  for  eighteen  bishoprics 
and  cathedrals :  but  of  these  he  only  erected  six,  as  shall 
be  afterwards  shewn.  Great  sums  were  indeed  laid  out  on 
building  and  fortifying  many  ports  in  the  channel,  and  other 
parts  of  England,  which  were  raised  by  the  sale  of  abbey-lands. 

At  this  time  many  were  offering  projects  for  noble  founda- 
tions, on  which  the  king  seemed  very  earnest :  but  it  is  very 
likely,  that,  before  he  was  aware  of  it,  he  had  so  outrun  himself 
in  his  bounty,  that  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  bring  these  to 
any  effect.  Yet  I  shall  set  down  one  of  the  projects,  which 
shews  the  greatness  of  his  mind  that  designed  it ;  that  is,  of 
sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  who  was  afterwards  one  of  the  wisest 
ministers  that  ever  this  nation  bred.  The  king  designed  to 
found  a  house  for  the  study  of  the  civil  law,  and  the  purity  of 
the  Latin  and  French  tongues  :    so  he  ordered  sir  Nicholas 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  431 

Bacon,  and  two  others,  Thomas  Denton,  and  Robert  Cary, 
to  make  a  full  project  of  the  nature  and  orders  of  such  a  house ; 
who  brought  it  to  him  in  a  writing,  the  original  whereof  is  yet  inbibiioth. 

nob.  D.  U. 

extant.  The  design  of  it  was,  that  there  should  be  frequent  Guii.  Pier- 
pleadings,  and  other  exercises,  in  the  Latin  and  French  tongues :  Point- 
and,  when  the  king's  students  were  brought  to  some  ripeness, 
they  should  be  sent  with  his  ambassadors  to  foreign  parts,  and 
trained  up  in  the  knowledge  of  foreign  affairs  ;  and  so  the 
house  should  be  the  nursery  for  ambassadors.  Some  were  also 
to  be  appointed  to  write  the  history  of  all  embassies,  treaties, 
and  other  foreign  transactions ;  as  also  of  all  arraignments,  and 
public  trials  at  home  :  but,  before  any  of  them  might  write  on 
these  subjects,  the  lord  chancellor  was  to  give  them  an  oath, 
that  they  should  do  it  truly,  without  respect  of  persons,  or  any 
other  corrupt  affection.  This  noble  design  miscarried  :  but,  if 
it  had  been  well  laid  and  regulated,  it  is  easy  to  gather  what 
great  and  public  advantages  might  have  flowed  from  it :  among 
which,  it  is  not  inconsiderable,  that  we  should  have  been 
delivered  from  a  rabble  of  ill  writers  of  history,  who  have, 
without  due  care  or  inquiry,  delivered  to  us  the  transactions  of 
that  time  so  imperfectly,  that  there  is  still  need  of  inquiring 
into  registers  and  papers  for  these  matters;  which,  in  such 
a  house,  had  been  more  certainly  and  clearly  conveyed  to 
posterity  than  can  be  now  expected,  at  such  a  distance  of  time, 
and  after  such  a  razure  of  records,  and  other  confusions,  in 
which  many  of  these  papers  have  been  lost.  And  this  help 
was  the  more  necessary  after  the  suppression  of  religious 
houses ;  in  most  of  which  a  chronicle  of  the  times  was  kept, 
and  still  filled  up,  as  new  transactions  came  to  their  knowledge. 
It  is  true,  most  of  these  wrere  written  by  men  of  weak  judg- 
ments, who  were  more  punctual  in  delivering  fables  and  trifles 
than  in  opening  observable  transactions :  yet  some  of  them 
were  men  of  better  understandings,  and,  it  is  like,  were  directed 
by  their  abbots,  who,  being  lords  of  parliament,  understood 
affairs  well ;  only  an  invincible  humour  of  lying,  when  it  might 
raise  the  credit  of  their  religion,  or  order,  or  house,  runs 
through  all  their  manuscripts. 

One  thing  was  very  remarkable  :  which  was  this  year  granted  A  Procla- 

„  .  .  m,  ,.  it  mation  a- 

270  at  Cranmer's  intercession.     There  was  nothing  could  so  much  bout  the 
recover  reformation,  that  was  declining  so  fast,  as  the  free  use  free  U8e 


432 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[PART  I. 


the  scrip- 
tures. 


Collect. 
Numb.  15. 


The  king 
designs  to 
marry 
Anne  of 
Cleves ; 


of  the  scriptures  ;  and,  though  these  had  been  set  up  in  the 
churches  a  year  ago,  yet  he  pressed,  and  now  procured  leave, 
for  private  persons  to  buy  Bibles,  and  keep  them  in  their 
houses.  So  this  was  granted  by  letters  patents  directed  to 
Cromwell,  bearing  date  the  thirteenth  of  November ;  the 
substance  of  which  was,  "  That  the  king  was  desirous  to  have 
"  his  subjects  attain  the  knowledge  of  God's  word  ;  which  could 
"  not  be  effected  by  any  means  so  well,  as  by  granting  them 
"  the  free  and  liberal  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  English  tongue, 
"  which,  to  avoid  dissension,  he  intended  should  pass  among 
"  them  only  by  one  translation.  Therefore  Cromwell  was 
"  charged  to  take  care,  that,  for  the  space  of  five  years,  there 
' '  should  be  no  impression  of  the  Bible,  or  any  part  of  it,  but 
"  only  by  such  as  should  be  assigned  by  him."  But  Gardiner 
opposed  this  all  he  could  ;  and  one  day,  in  a  conference  before 
the  king,  he  provoked  Cranmer  to  shew  any  difference  between 
the  authority  of  the  scriptures,  and  of  the  apostolical  canons, 
which  he  pretended  were  equal  to  the  other  writings  of  the 
apostles.  Upon  which  they  disputed  for  some  time.  But  the 
king  perceived  solid  learning,  tempered  with  great  modesty,  in 
what  Cranmer  said  ;  and  nothing  but  vanity  and  affectation  in 
Gardiner's  reasonings.  So  he  took  him  up  sharply,  and  told 
him,  that  Cranmer  was  an  old  and  experienced  captain,  and 
was  not  to  be  troubled  by  fresh-men  and  novices. 

The  great  matter  of  the  king's  marriage  came  on  at  this 
time.  Many  reports  were  brought  the  king  of  the  beauty  of 
Anne  of  Cleves,  so  that  he  inclined  to  ally  himself  with  that 
family.  Both  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  France  had  courted 
him  to  matches  which  they  had  projected.  The  emperor  pro- 
posed the  duchess  of  Milan,  his  kinswoman,  and  daughter  to 
the  king  of  Denmark.  He  was  then  designing  to  break  the 
league  of  Smalcald,  and  to  make  himself  master  of  Germany  : 
and  therefore  he  took  much  pains  with  the  king,  to  divide  him 
from  the  princes  there ;  which  was  in  great  part  effected  by 
the  statute  for  the  six  articles :  upon  which  the  ambassadors  of 
the  princes  had  complained,  and  said,  that  whereas  the  king- 
had  been  in  so  fair  a  way  of  union  with  them,  he  had  now 
broke  it  off,  and  made  so  severe  a  law  about  communion  in  one 
kind,  private  masses,  and  the  celibate  of  the  clergy,  which 
differed  so  much  from  their  doctrine,  that  they  could  entertain 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1539.)  433 

no  further  correspondence  with  him,  if  that  law  was  not  miti- 
gated. But  Gardiner  wrought  much  on  the  king's  vanity  and 
passions ;  and  told  him,  that  it  was  below  his  dignity  and  high 
learning  to  have  a  company  of  dull  Germans,  and  small  princes, 
dictate  to  him  in  matters  of  religion.  There  was  also  another 
thing  which  he  oft  made  use  of;  (though  it  argues  somewhere 
a  great  ignorance  of  the  constitution  of  the  empire  ;)  that  the 
king  could  not  expect  these  princes  would  ever  be  for  his  su- 
premacy, since,  if  they  acknowledged  that  in  him,  they  must 
likewise  yield  it  to  the  emperor.  This  was  a  great  mistake  :  for, 
as  the  princes  of  Germany  never  acknowledged  the  emperor  to 
have  a  sovereignty  in  their  dominions ;  so  they  did  acknowledge 
271  the  diet,  in  which  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire  lies,  to  have  a 
power  of  making  or  changing  what  lawTs  they  pleased  about 
religion.  And  in  things  that  were  not  determined  by  the  diet, 
every  prince  pretended  to  it  as  highly  in  his  own  dominions  as 
the  king  could  do  in  England.  But,  as  untrue  as  this  allega- 
tion was,  it  served  Gardiner's  turn  :  for  the  king  was  suffi- 
ciently irritated  with  it  against  the  princes ;  so  that  there  was 
now  a  great  coldness  in  their  correspondence.  Yet  the  project 
of  a  match  with  the  duchess  of  Milan  failing,  and  these  pro- 
posed by  France  not  being  acceptable,  Cromwell  moved  the  king 
about  an  alliance  with  the  duke  of  Cleves  ;  who,  as  he  was  the 
emperor's  neighbour  in  Flanders,  had  also  a  pretension  to  the 
duchy  of  Gueldres,  and  his  eldest  daughter  was  married  to  the 
duke  of  Saxony.  So  that  the  king,  having  then  some  appre- 
hensions of  a  war  with  the  emperor,  this  seemed  a  very  proper 
alliance  to  give  him  a  diversion. 

There  had  been  a  treaty  between  her  father  and  the  duke  of 
Lorraine,  in  order  to  a  match  between  the  duke  of  Lorraine's 
son  and  her ;  but  they  both  being  under  age,  it  went  no  further 
than  a  contract  between  their  fathers.     Hans  Holbein,  having  [Herbert, 
taken  her  picture,  sent  it  over  to  the  king.     But  in  that  he  c0tt  n  0™ 
bestowed  the  common  compliment  of  his  art  somewhat  too  MSS-  Vi- 
liberally  on  a  lady  that  was  in  a  fair  way  to  be  queen.     The  b.  xxi 
king  liked  the  picture  better  than  the  original,  when  he  hadfol-l86-J 
the  occasion  afterwards  to  compare  them.   The  duke  of  Saxony, 
who  was  very  zealous  for  the  Augsburg  Confession,  finding  the 
king  had  declined  so  much  from  it,  dissuaded  the  match.     But 
Cromwell  set  it  on  mightily,  expecting  a  great  support  from  a 

BURNET,  PART  I.  pf 


434  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

queen  of  his  own  making,  whose  friends  being  all  Lutherans,  it 

tended  also  to  bring  down  the  popish  party  at  court,  and  again 

to  recover  the  ground  they  had  now  lost.      Those  that  had 

seen  the  lady  did  much  commend  her  beauty  and  person.    But 

she  could  speak  no  language  but  Dutch,  to  which  the  king  was 

a  stranger :  nor  was  she  bred  to  music,  with  which  the  king 

was  much  taken.     So  that,  except  her  person  had  charmed 

him,  there  was  nothing  left  for  her  to  gain  upon  him  by.  After 

some  months'  treaty,  one  of  the  counts  palatine  of  the  Rhine, 

with  other  ambassadors  from  the  duke  of  Saxony,  and  her 

brother  the  duke  of  Cleves,  (for  her  father  was  lately  dead,) 

came  over,  and  concluded  the  match. 

[Dec.  27,          In  the  end  of  December  she  was  brought  over  to  England  : 

p.°Q48  j6  '  an(l  ^ie  king,  being  impatient  to  see  her,  went  down  incognito 

Who  comes  to  Rochester.     But  when  he  had  a  sight  of  her,  finding  none 

England;    °f  these  charms  which  he  was  made  believe  were  in  her,  he 

But  is         was  so  extremely  surprised,  that  he  not  only  did  not  like  her, 

much  dis-    |)Ut  £00k  an  aversion  to  her,  which  lie  could  never  after  over- 

liked  by 

the  king.  come.  He  swore  they  had  brought  over  a  Flanders  mare  to 
liim  ;  and  was  very  sorry  he  had  gone  so  far,  but  glad  it  had 
proceeded  no  further.  And  presently  he  resolved,  if  it  were 
possible,  to  break  off  the  matter,  and  never  to  yoke  himself 
with  her.  But  his  affairs  were  not  then  in  such  a  condition, 
that  he  could  safely  put  that  affront  on  the  dukes  of  Saxony 
and  Cleves,  which  the  sending  back  of  this  lady  would  have 
done.  For  the  Germans  being;  of  all  nations  most  sensible  of 
every  thing  in  which  the  honour  of  their  family  is  touched,  he 
knew  they  would  resent  such  an  injury  :  and  it  was  not  safe 
for  him  to  adventure  that  at  such  a  time.  For  the  emperoi  272 
was  then  in  Paris,  whither  he  had  gone  to  an  interview  with 
Francis65 :  and  his  reception  was  not  only  as  magnificent  as  could 
be,  but  there  was  all  the  evidence  possible  of  hearty  friendship 
and  kindness.  The  king  also  understood,  that  between  them 
there  was  somewhat  projected  against  himself.  And  now 
Francis,  that  had  been  as  much  obliged  by  him  as  possibly 
one  prince  could  be  by  another,  was  not  only  forgetful  of  it. 

65  This  was   no  designed  inter-  nearest  way,  and  was  met  by  Fran- 
view,  but  Charles  hearing  of  the  cis  at  Loches  in  Berry,  and  not  at 
tumult  at  Ghent,  went  from  Spain  Paris.  [F.J    [Hall,  p. 831.] 
to  Flanders,  through  France,  as  his 


book  in. )  THE  REFORMATION.  (1539.)  435 

but  intended  to  take  advantage,  from  the  distractions  and  dis- 
contents of  the  English,  to  drive  them  out  of  France,  if  it  were 
possible.  And  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  but  the  emperor  would 
gladly  have  embroiled  these  two  kings,  that  he  might  have 
a  better  opportunity  both  to  make  himself  master  of  Germany, 
and  to  force  the  king  of  England  into  an  alliance,  by  which 
the  lady  Mary  should  be  legitimated,  and  the  princes  of  Ger- 
many be  left  destitute  of  a  support,  which  made  them  insolent 
and  intractable.  The  king  apprehended  the  conjunction  of 
those  two  great  princes  against  himself,  which  was  much  set 
forward  by  the  pope  ;  and  that  they  would  set  up  the  king  of 
Scotland  against  him,  who,  with  that  foreign  assistance,  and 
the  discontents  at  home,  Avould  have  made  war  upon  great 
advantages ;  especially  those  in  the  north  of  England  being 
ill-affected  to  him  :  and  therefore  he  judged  it  necessary  for 
his  affairs,  not  to  lose  the  princes  of  Germany.  Only  he  re-  [Cotton 
solved,  first,  to  try  if  any  nullities  or  precontracts  could  excuse  c  x  ' 
him  fairly  at  their  hands.  He  returned  to  Greenwich  very  burnt,  but 
melancholy.  He  much  blamed  the  earl  of  Southampton,  who,  sj,rype's 
being  sent  over  to  receive  her  at  Calais,  had  written  an  high  Memorials, 
commendation  of  her  beauty.  But  he  excused  himself,  that 
he  thought  the  thing  was  so  far  gone,  that  it  was  decent  to 
write  as  he  had  done.  The  king  lamented  his  condition  in 
that  marriage,  and  expressed  great  trouble,  both  to  the  lord 
Russell,  sir  Anthony  Brown,  sir  Anthony  Denny,  and  others 
about  him.  The  last  of  those  told  him,  "  This  w\as  one  ad- 
"  vantage  that  moan  persons  had  over  princes  :  that  great 
"  princes  must  take  such  wives  as  are  brought  them,  whereas 
'•  meaner  persons  go  and  choose  wives  for  themselves."  But 
when  the  king  saw  Cromwell,  he  gave  his  grief  a  freer  vent  to 
him.  He,  finding  the  king  so  much  troubled,  would  have  cast 
the  chief  blame  on  the  earl  of  Southampton,  for  whom  he  had 
no  great  kindness  :  and  said,  when  he  found  her  so  far  short  of 
what  reports  and  pictures  had  made  her,  he  should  have  stayed 
her  at  Calais,  till  he  had  given  the  king  notice  of  it.  But  the 
earl's  commission  being  only  to  bring  her  over,  he  said,  it  had 
been  too  great  a  presumption  in  him  to  have  interposed  in  such 
a  manner.  And  the  king  was  convinced  he  was  in  the  right. 
So  now,  all  they  had  to  insist  on  was,  the  clearing  of  that  con- 
tract that  had  passed  between  her  and  the  marquis  of  Lorraine  5 

Ff  2 


436  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

which  the  ambassadors,  who  had  been  with  the  king,  had  un- 
dertaken should  be  fully  done,  and  brought  over  with  her  in 
due  form  of  law.  So,  after  the  lady  was  brought  in  great 
state  to  Greenwich,  the  council  met,  and  sent  for  the  ambassa- 
dors of  the  duke  of  Cloves,  that  conducted  her  over ;  and  de- 
sired to  see  what  they  had  brought  for  clearing  the  breach  of 
that  contract  with  the  marquis  of  Lorraine.  But  they  had 
brought  nothing,  and  made  no  account  of  it,  saying,  that  the 
contract  was  in  their  minority,  when  they  could  give  no  con-  273 
sent ;  and  that  nothing  had  followed  on  it  after  they  came  to 
be  of  age.  But  this  did  not  satisfy  the  king's  council,  who 
said,  these  were  but  their  words,  and  they  must  see  better 
proofs.  The  king's  marriage  was  annulled  with  Anne  Boleyn 
upon  a  precontract ;  therefore  he  must  not  again  run  the  like 
hazard.  So  Olisleger  and  Hogesden,  the  ambassadors  from 
Cleves,  did,  by  a  formal  instrument,  protest  before  Cromwell, 
that,  in  a  peace  made  between  their  late  master,  John  duke  of 
Cleves,  and  Anthony  duke  of  Lorraine,  one  of  the  conditions 
was,  that  this  lady,  being  then  under  age,  should  be  given  in 
marriage  to  Francis,  son  to  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  who  was 
likewise  under  age  :  which  treaty  they  affirmed  they  saw  and 
read.  But  that  afterwards  Henry  de  Groffe,  ambassador  of 
Charles  duke  of  Gueldres,  upon  whose  mediation  that  peace  had 
been  concluded,  declared  in  their  hearing,  that  the  espousals 
were  annulled,  and  of  no  effect :  and  that  this  was  registered 
in  the  chancery  of  Cleves,  of  which  they  promised  to  bring  an 
authentical  extract,  within  three  months,  to  England.  Some 
of  the  counsellors,  who  knew  the  king's  secret  dislike  of  her 
person,  would  have  insisted  more  on  this.  But  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  the  bishop  of  Durham,  said,  if  there  was 
no  more  than  that,  it  could  be  no  just  hindrance  to  the  so- 
1540.  lemnization  of  the  marriage.  So  the  king,  seeing  there  was 
no  remedy,  and  being  much  pressed,  both  by  the  ministers  of 
But  yet  Cleves,  and  by  the  lord  Cromwell,  married  her  on  the  sixth  of 
marries  her,  january  :  Dut,  expressed  so  much  aversion  and  dislike  of  her, 
Hall,  that  everybody  about  him  took  notice  of  it.     Next  day  the 

p'   3  '•'       lord  Cromwell  asked  him,  how  he  liked  her  then  ?   He  told 
him,  He  was  not  every  man,  therefore  he  would  be  free  with 
And  could  him  ;  he  liked  her  worse  than  he  did.     He  suspected  she  was 
her.er  °Ve  no  maid ;  and  had  such  ill  smells  about  her,  that  he  loathed 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1.540.)  437 

her  more  than  ever,  and  did  not  believe  he  should  ever  con- 
summate the  marriage.  This  was  sad  news  to  Cromwell,  who 
knew  well  how  delicate  the  king  was  in  these  matters,  and  that 
so  great  a  misfortune  must  needs  turn  very  heavy  on  him,  that 
was  the  chief  promoter  of  it.  He  knew  his  enemies  would 
draw  great  advantages  from  this ;  and  understood  the  king's 
temper  too  well  to  think  his  greatness  would  last  long,  if  he 
could  not  induce  the  king  to  like  the  queen  better.  But  that 
was  not  to  be  done ;  for  though  the  king  lived  five  months 
with  her  in  that  state,  and  very  oft  lay  in  the  bed  with  her,  yet 
his  aversion  rather  increased  than  abated.  She  seemed  not 
much  concerned  at  it :  and  as  their  conversation  was  not  great, 
so  she  was  of  an  heavy  composition,  and  was  not  much  dis- 
pleased to  be  delivered  from  a  marriage  in  which  she  had  so 
little  satisfaction.  Yet  one  thing  shews  that  she  wanted  not 
capacity,  for  she  learned  the  English  language  very  soon ;  and, 
before  her  marriage  was  annulled,  she  spoke  English  freely,  as 
appears  by  some  of  the  depositions. 

There  was  an  instrument  brought  over  from  Cleves,  taken 
out  of  the  chancery  there,  by  which  it  appeared,  that  Henry 
de  Groffe,  ambassador  from  the  duke  of  Gueldres,  had,  on  the 
fifteenth  of  February  in  the  year  1535,  declared  the  nullity  of 
the  former  contract  in  express  words,  which  are  set  down  in 
High  Dutch,  but  thus  put  in  Latin ;  Sponsalia  ilia  progressum 
274  mum  non  habitura,  (I  will  not  answer  for  the  Latin,)  ex  quo 
dictus  dux  Carolus  admodum  doleret,  et  propterea  qucedam 
fecisset,  et  amplius  facturus  esset :  and  Pallandus,  that  was 
ambassador  from  the  duke  of  Cleves  in  the  duke  of  Gueldres' 
court,  wrote  to  his  master ;  Illustrissimum  ducem  Gueldrice 
certo  scire  prima  ilia  sponsalia  inter  Domicellam  Annam 
fore  inania  et  progressum  suum  non  habitura.  When  this 
was  shewed  the  king,  his  council  found  great  exceptions  to  it, 
upon  the  ambiguity  of  the  word  sponsalia;  it  not  being  ex- 
pressed, whether  they  were  espousals  by  the  words  of  the 
present,  or  of  the  future  tense :  and  intended  to  make  use  of 
that  when  there  should  be  a  fit  opportunity  for  it. 

On  the  twelfth  of  April  a  session  of  parliament  was  held.  A  parlia- 
The  Journal  shews,  that  neither  the  abbot  of  Westminster,  ^en 
nor  any  other  abbot,  was  present.     After  the  lord  chancellor  [Journals 
had  opened  the  reasons  for  the  king's  meeting  them  at  that  p  12g.] ' 


438 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[part  I. 


Where 
Cromwell 
speaks  as 
lord  vice- 
gerent. 
[Ibid, 
p.  129.] 


time,  as  they  related  to  the  civil  government ;  Cromwell,  as 
lord  vicegerent,  spake  next  in  the  king's  name,  and  said, 
"  There  was  nothing  which  the  king  so  much  desired  as  a  firm 
"  union  among  all  his  subjects,  in  which  he  placed  his  chief 
"  security.  He  knew  there  were  many  incendiaries,  and  much 
"  cockle  grew  up  with  the  wheat.  The  rashness  and  licentious- 
"  ness  of  some,  and  the  inveterate  superstition  and  stiffness  of 
"  others  in  the  ancient  corruptions,  had  raised  great  dissen- 
"  sions,  to  the  sad  regret  of  all  good  Christians.  Some  were 
"  called  papists,  others  heretics  ;  which  bitterness  of  spirit 
"  seemed  the  more  strange,  since  now  the  holy  scriptures,  by 
"  the  king's  great  care  of  his  people,  were  in  all  their  hands, 
"  in  a  language  which  they  understood.  But  these  were 
"  grossly  perverted  by  both  sides  ;  who  studied  rather  to 
"  justify  their  passions  out  of  them,  than  to  direct  their  belief 
"  by  them.  The  king  leaned  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the 
"  left  hand,  neither  to  the  one  nor  the  other  party  ;  but  set 
"  the  pure  and  sincere  doctrine  of  the  Christian  faith  only 
"  before  his  eyes  :  and  therefore  Avas  now  resolved  to  have 
"  this  set  forth  to  his  subjects,  without  any  corrupt  mixtures  ; 
"  and  to  have  such  decent  ceremonies  continued,  and  the  true 
"  use  of  them  taught,  by  which  all  abuses  might  be  cut  off, 
"  and  disputes  about  the  exposition  of  the  scriptures  cease,  that 
"  so  all  his  subjects  might  be  well  instructed  in  their  faith,  and 
"  directed  in  the  reverent  worship  of  God  :  and  resolved  to 
"  punish  severely  all  transgressors,  of  what  sort  or  side  soever 
"  they  were.  The  king  was  resolved,  that  Christ,  that  the 
"  gospel  of  Christ,  and  the  truth,  should  have  the  victory  : 
"  and  therefore  had  appointed  some  bishops  and  divines  to 
"  draw  up  an  exposition  of  those  things  that  were  necessary 
"  for  the  institution  of  a  Christian  man  66 ;  who  were,  the  two 
"  archbishops,  the  bishop  of  London,  Durham,  Winchester, 
"  Rochester,  Hereford,  and  St.  David's;  and  doctors  Thirlby, 
"  Robertson6'',  Cox,  Day,  Oglethorp,  Redmayn,  Edgeworth, 


m  [The  book  entitled  the  Insti- 
tution of  a  Christian  Man  had  been 
published  three  years  before.  The 
committee  appointed  drew  up  the 
Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition 
for  any  Christian  Man,  which  was 
printed    May  29,    1543.      See   Bp. 


Lloyd's  preface  to  '  Formularies  of 
Faith,'  and  Laurence's  'Bampton 
Lectures,'  p.  194.] 

67  [In  the  Journal  the  name  is 
Robinson.  Also  between  Cox  and 
Day  the  author  has  omitted  the 
name  of  Wilson.] 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1540.)  439 

"  Cray  ford,  Symonds,  Robins,  and  Tresham.  He  had  also 
"  appointed  others  to  examine  what  ceremonies  should  be  re- 
"  tained,  and  what  was  the  true  use  of  them ;  who  were,  the 
"  bishops  of  Bath  and  Wells,  Ely,  Sarum,  Chichester,  Wor- 
"  cester,  and  Llandaff.  The  king  had  also  commanded  the 
"  judges,  and  other  justices  of  the  peace,  and  persons  com- 
"  missioned  for  the  execution  of  the  act  formerly  passed,  to 
"  proceed  against  all  transgressors,  and  punish  them  according 
275  "  to  law.  And  he  concluded  with  an  high  commendation  of 
"  the  king,  whose  due  praises,  he  said,  a  man  of  far  greater 
"  eloquence  than  himself  was,  could  not  fully  set  forth."  The  [Ibid.] 
lords  approved  of  this  nomination,  and  ordered  that  these 
committees  should  sit  constantly  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays, 
and  Fridays ;  and  on  other  days  they  were  to  sit  in  the  after- 
noon. But  their  proceedings  will  require  so  full  a  relation, 
that  I  shall  first  open  the  other  affairs  that  passed  in  this 
session,  and  leave  these  to  the  last. 

On  the  fourteenth  of  April68  the  king  created  Cromwell  earl  He  is  made 
of  Essex ;  the  male  line  of  the  Bourchiers,  that  had  carried  ^ 
that  title,  being  extinguished.    This  shews,  that  the  true  causes  [Herbert, 
of  Cromwell's  fall  must  be  found  in  some  other  thing  than  his     s 
making  up  the  king's  marriage  ;  who  had  never  thus  raised 
his  title,  if  he  had  intended  so  soon  to  pull  him  down. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  April  a  bill  was   brought  in  for  [Journal 
suppressing  the  knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem.     Their  first  °  I?2-\a' 
foundation  was  to  be  a  guard  to  the  pilgrims  that  went  to  the  The  sup- 
Holy  Land.     For  some  ages,  that  was  extolled  as  the  highest  the  knio-hts 
expression  of  devotion,  and  reverence  to  our  Saviour,  to  go  °f  St.  John 
and  view  the  places  of  his  abode,  and  chiefly  the  places  where  lem. 
he  was  crucified,  buried,  and  ascended  to  heaven.    Upon  which,  &a?'t24' 
many  entered  into  a  religious  knighthood,  who  were  to  defend  vol.  Hi.  p. 
the  Holy  Land,  and  conduct  the  pilgrims.     Those  were  of  two  ''    -1 
sorts ;    the  Knights  Templars,  and  Hospitallers.     The  former 
were  the  greater  and  richer,  but  the  other  were  also  very  con- 
siderable.     The  popes  and  their  clergy  did  everywhere  ani- 

68  [He  was  created  earl  of  Essex  entered  in  the  Journal  of  the  house 
on  the  17th  of  April,  (Dugdale's  of  lords  on  Saturday  April  17,  as 
Baronage,  vol.  ii.  p.  372.  ed.  1676,)  Ds.  Crumwell,  Vicem-gerens  Do- 
or, according  to  Hall,  p.  838,  Stow,  mini  Regis  in  Spiritualibus,  and  on 
p.  579,  and  Holinshed,  p.  950,  on  Monday  the  19th,  as  Vices-gerens 
April  1 8th,  and  accordingly  he  is  Regius,  Thomas  Essex  Comes.] 


440  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

mate  all  princes  and  great  persons  to  undertake  expeditions 
into  these  parts,  which  were  very  costly  and  dangerous,  and 
proved  fatal  to  almost  all  the  princes  that  made  them.  Yet 
the  belief  of  the  pains  of  purgatory,  from  which  all  were  de- 
livered by  the  pope's  power,  who  went  on  this  expedition,  such 
as  died  in  it  being  also  reckoned  martyrs,  wrought  wonderfully 
on  a  blind  and  superstitious  age.  But  such  as  could  not  go 
were  persuaded,  that  if  on  their  deathbeds  they  vowed  to  go 
upon  their  recovery,  and  left  some  lands  to  maintain  a  knight 
that  should  go  thither  and  fight  against  the  infidels,  it  would 
do  as  well.  Upon  this,  great  and  vast  endowments  were  made. 
But  there  were  many  complaints  made  of  the  Templars  for 
betraying  and  robbing  the  pilgrims,  and  other  horrid  abuses, 
which  may  reasonably  be  believed  to  have  been  true ;  though 
other  writers  of  that  age  lay  the  blame  rather  on  the  covetous- 
ness  of  the  king  of  France,  and  the  pope^  malice  to  them : 
yet,  in  a  general  council,  the  whole  order  was  condemned  and 
suppressed,  and  such  of  them  as  could  be  taken  were  cruelly 
put  to  death.  The  order  of  the  Hospitallers  stood,  yet  did 
not  grow  much  after  that.  They  were  beaten  out  of  the  Holy 
Land  by  the  sultans,  and  lately  out  of  the  isle  of  Rhodes,  and 
were  at  this  time  in  Malta.  Their  great  master  depended  on 
the  pope  and  the  emperor ;  so  it  was  not  thought  fit  to  let  a 
house,  that  was  subject  to  a  foreign  power,  stand  longer.  And 
it  seems  they  would  not  willingly  surrender  up  their  house,  as 
[Journals  others  had  done  :  therefore  it  was  necessary  to  force  them  out 
°  °  8)  of  it  by  an  act  of  parliament,  which  on  the  twenty-second  of 
133]  April  was  read  the  first  time,  and  on  the  twenty-sixth   the 

second  time,  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  the  third  time,  by  which 
both  their  house  in  England,  and  another  they  had  in  Kil-  27(j 
mainham  in  Ireland,  were  suppressed ;    great  pensions  being 
[Statutes,    reserved  by  the  act  to  the  priors,  a  thousand  pounds  to  him  of 

vol  in.        gj.  John's  near  London,  and  five  hundred  marks  to  the  other, 
P-  779-J  .  . 

with  very  considerable  allowances  for  the  knights,  which  in  all 

amounted  near  to  three  thousand  pounds  yearly.  But  on  the 
[May  1 1.  fourteenth  of  May  the  parliament  was  prorogued  to  the  twenty- 
L°0"™als  of  fifth,  and  a  vote  passed,  that  their  bills  should  remain  in  the 
137-1  state  they  were  in. 

Croinwoll's       Upon  their  next  meeting,  as  they  were  going  on  in  their 

business,  a  great   change  of  court  broke   out.     For,  on   the 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  441 

thirteenth  of  June,  at  the  council-table,  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  [Herbert, 
in  the  king's  name,  challenged  the  lord  Cromwell  of  high  trea-  ?• 5'8' 

"  °  &  June  10, 

son,  and,  arresting  him,  sent  him  prisoner  to  the  Tower.     He  Journals 

had  many  enemies  among  all  sorts  of  persons.  The  nobility  "  °iC!s 
despised  him,  and  thought  it  lessened  the  greatness  of  their 
titles,  to  see  the  son  of  a  blacksmith  raised  so  many  degrees 
above  them.  His  aspiring  to  the  order  of  the  garter  was 
thought  inexcusable  vanity ;  and  his  having  so  many  places 
heaped  on  him,  as  lord  privy  seal,  lord  chamberlain  of  Eng- 
land, and  lord  vicegerent,  with  the  mastership  of  the  rolls, 
with  which  he  had  but  lately  parted,  drew  much  envy  on  him. 
All  the  popish  party  hated  him  out  of  measure.  The  suppres- 
sion of  the  abbeys  was  laid  wholly  at  his  door  :  the  attainders, 
and  all  other  severe  proceedings,  were  imputed  to  his  counsels. 
He  was  also  thought  to  be  the  person  that  had  kept  the  king 
and  the  emperor  at  such  distance ;  and  therefore  the  duke  of 
Norfolk,  and  Gardiner,  beside  private  animosities,  hated  him 
on  that  account.  And  they  did  not  think  it  impossible,  if  he 
were  out  of  the  way,  to  bring  on  a  treaty  with  the  emperor, 
which  they  hoped  would  open  the  way  for  one  with  the  pope. 
But  other  more  secret  reasons  wrought  his  ruin  with  the  kin<)\ 
The  fear  he  was  in  of  a  conjunction  between  the  emperor  and 
France  did  now  abate  ;  for  he  understood  that  it  went  no  fur- 
ther than  compliments  :  and  though  he  clearly  discovered, 
having  sent  over  the  duke  of  Norfolk  to  Francis,  that  he  was 
not  to  depend  much  on  his  friendship ;  yet  at  the  same  time 
he  knew  that  the  emperor  would  not  yield  up  the  duchy  of 
Milan  to  him,  upon  which  his  heart  was  much  set.  So  he  saw 
they  could  come  to  no  agreement ;  therefore  he  made  no  great 
account  of  the  loss  of  France,  since  he  knew  the  emperor 
would  willingly  make  an  alliance  with  him  ;  the  hopes  of  which 
made  him  more  indifferent  whether  the  German  princes  were 
pleased  with  what  he  did  or  not,  since  he  had  now  attained 
the  end  he  had  proposed  to  himself  in  all  his  negotiations  with 
them,  which  was,  to  secure  himself  from  any  trouble  the  em- 
peror might  give  him.  Therefore  Cromwell's  counsels  were 
now  disliked,  for  he  had  always  inclined  the  king  to  favour 
those  princes  against  the  emperor.  Another  secret  cause  was, 
that,  as  the  king  had  an  unconcmerable  aversion  to  his  queen, 
so  he  was  taken  with  the  beauty  and  behaviour  of  Mistress 


442 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


The  king'  in 

love  with 

Mistress 

Catharine 

Howard. 

[Herbert, 

p.  518.1, 


Cranmer's 
friendship 
to  Crom- 
well. 

[Herbert, 
P-  5I9-] 


Catharine  Howard,  daughter  to  the  lord  Edmund  Howard,  a 
brother  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk's.  And  as  this  designed  match 
raised  the  credit  of  her  uncle,  so  the  ill  consequences  of  the 
former  drew  him  down  who  had  been  the  chief  counsellor  in  it. 
The  king  also  found  his  government  was  grown  uneasy,  and 
therefore  judged  it  was  no  ill  policy  to  cast  over  all  that  had 
been  done  amiss  upon  a  minister  who  had  great  power  with  277 
him ;  and,  being  now  in  disgrace,  all  the  blame  of  these  things 
would  be  taken  off  from  the  king,  and  laid  on  him,  and  his 
ruin  would  much  appease  discontents,  and  make  them  more 
moderate  in  censuring  the  king,  or  his  proceedings.  It  is  said 
that  other  particulars  were  charged  on  him,  which  lost  him 
the  king's  favour.  If  this  be  true,  it  is  like  they  related  to 
the  encouragement  he  was  said  to  have  given  to  some  refor- 
mers, in  the  opposition  they  made  to  the  six  articles ;  upon 
the  execution  of  which  the  king  was  now  much  set.  His  fall 
was  so  secretly  carried,  that,  though  he  had  often  before  looked 
for  it,  knowing  the  king's  uneasy  and  jealous  temper,  yet  at 
that  time  he  had  no  apprehensions  of  it  till  the  storm  broke 
upon  him.  In  his  fall  he  had  the  common  fate  of  all  disgraced 
ministers ;  to  be  forsaken  by  his  friends,  and  insulted  over  by 
his  enemies.  Only  Cranmer  retained  still  so  much  of  his  for- 
mer simplicity,  that  he  could  never  learn  these  court  arts. 
Therefore  he  wrote  to  the  king  about  him  next  day,  "  He 
"  much  magnified  his  diligence  in  the  king's  service  and  pre- 
"  servation,  and  discovering  all  plots  as  soon  as  they  were 
"  made ;  that  he  had  always  loved  the  king  above  all  things, 
"  and  served  him  with  great  fidelity  and  success ;  that  he 
"  thought  no  king  of  England  had  ever  such  a  servant :  upon 
"  that  account  he  had  loved  him,  as  one  that  loved  the  king 
"  above  all  others.  But  if  he  was  a  traitor,  he  was  glad  it  was 
"  discovered.  But  he  prayed  God  earnestly  to  send  the  king 
"  such  a  counsellor  in  his  stead,  who  could  and  would  serve 
"  him  as  he  had  done."  This  shews  both  the  firmness  of 
Cranmer's  friendship  to  him,  and  that  he  had  a  great  soul, 
not  turned  by  the  changes  of  men's  fortunes  to  like  or  dislike 
them,  as  they  stood  or  declined  from  their  greatness.  And 
had  not  the  king's  kindness  for  Cranmer  been  deeply  rooted, 
this  letter  had  ruined  him  :  for  he  was  the  most  impatient  of 
contradiction,  in  such  cases,  that  could  be.     Cromwell's  ruin 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  443 

was  now  decreed  ;  and  he,  who  had  so  servilely  complied  with 
the  king's  pleasure  in  procuring  some  to  be  attainted,  the  year 
before,  without  beina;  brought  to  make  their  answer,  fell  now 
under  the  same  severity.  For,  whether  it  wras  that  his  ene- 
mies knew,  that  if  he  were  brought  to  the  bar  he  would  so 
justify  himself,  that  they  would  find  great  difficulties  in  the 
process ;  or  whether  it  was  that  they  blindly  resolved  to  follow 
that  injustifiable  precedent  of  passing  over  so  necessary  a  rule 
to  all  courts,  of  giving  the  party  accused  an  hearing ;  the  bill 
of  attainder  was  brought  into  the  house  of  lords,  Cranmer 
being  absent  that  day,  as  appears  by  the  Journal,  on  the  [Journals 
seventeenth  of  June,  and  read  the  first  time,  and  on  the  nine-  p  I45.] ' 
teenth  67  wras  read  the  second  and  third  time,  and  sent  down  to 
the  commons :  by  which  it  appears,  how  few  friends  he  had  in 
that  house,  when  a  bill  of  that  nature  went  on  so  hastily.  But 
it  seems  he  found  in  the  house  of  commons  somewhat  of  the 
same  measure  which,  ten  years  before,  he  had  dealt  to  the 
cardinal,  though  not  with  the  same  success  :  for  his  matter 
stuck  ten  days  there.  At  length  a  new  bill  of  attainder  was  [ibid.  p. 
brought  up,  conceived  in  the  house  of  commons,  with  a  proviso  I49^ 
annexed  to  it.  They  also  sent  back  the  bill  which  the  lords 
sent  to  them  :  but  it  is  not  clear  from  the  Journals  what  they 
278  meant  by  those  two  bills.  It  seems  they  rejected  the  lords1 
bill,  and  yet  sent  it  up  with  their  own,  either  in  respect  to  the 
lords,  or  that  they  left  it  to  their  choice,  which  of  the  two  bills 
they  would  offer  to  the  royal  assent.  But  though  this  be  an 
unparliamentary  way  of  proceeding,  I  know  no  other  sense 
which  the  words  of  the  Journal  can  bear,  which  I  shall  set 
down  in  the  margin,  that  the  reader  may  judge  better  con- 
cerning it68.  And  that  very  day  the  king  assented  to  it,  as 
appears  by  the  letter  written  the  next  day  by  Cromwell  to  the 
king. 

The  act  said,  "  That  the  king,  having  raised  Thomas  Crom-  Cromwell': 

attainder. 

6"  [Cranmer  was  present.    Jour-  billa  secundo  et  tertio,  lecta  est ;  et 

nals  of  Lords,  p.  146.]  provisio    ejusdera   concernens   De- 

68  Journal  Procerum,  parag.  58.  canatum  Wellensem  perlecta  est,  et 
[p.  149.]  Item  billa  attincturse  communi  omnium  Procerum  consensu 
Thoma?  Cromwell  Comitis  Essex  nemine  discrepante  expedita ;  et  si- 
de crimine  hseresis  et  laesae  majesta-  mul  cum  ea  referebatur  billa  attinc- 
tis,  per  Communes  de  novo  con-  turae  qua?  prius  missa  erat  in  Do- 
cepta,  et  assensa,  et  simul  cum  pro-  mum  Communem. 
visione  eidem  annexa.   Qua?  quidem 


444  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Collect.  "  well  from  a  base  degree  to  great  dignities  and  high  trusts ; 
um  ' l  ■  "  yet  he  had  now,  by  a  great  number  of  witnesses,  persons  of 
"  honour,  found  him  to  be  the  most  corrupt  traitor,  and  de- 
"  ceiver  of  the  king  and  the  crown,  that  had  ever  been  known 
"  in  his  whole  reign.  He  had  taken  upon  him  to  set  at  liberty 
"  divers  persons  put  in  prison  for  misprision  of  treason,  and 
"  others  that  were  suspected  of  it.  He  had  also  received 
"  several  bribes,  and  for  them  granted  licenses  to  carry  money, 
"  corn,  horses,  and  other  things,  out  of  the  kingdom,  contrary 
"  to  the  king's  proclamations.  He  had  also  given  out  many 
"  commissions  without  the  king's  knowledge ;  and,  being  but 
"  of  a  base  birth,  had  said,  that  he  was  sure  of  the  king.  He 
"  had  granted  many  passports,  both  to  the  king's  subjects  and 
"  foreigners,  for  passing  the  seas  without  search.  He,  being 
f<  also  an  heretic,  had  dispersed  many  erroneous  books  among 
"  the  king's  subjects,  particularly  some  that  were  contrary  to 
"  the  belief  of  the  sacrament.  And  when  some  had  informed 
"  him  of  this,  and  had  shewed  him  these  heresies  in  books 
"  printed  in  England,  he  said,  they  were  good,  and  that  he 
"found  no  fault  in  them;  and  said,  it  ivas  as  lawful  for 
"  every  Christian  man  to  be  the  minister  of  that  sacrament, 
11  as  a  priest.  And  whereas  the  king  had  constituted  him 
"  vicegerent  for  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the  church ;  he  had, 
"  under  the  seal  of  that  office,  licensed  many  that  were  sus- 
"  pected  of  heresy  to  preach  over  the  kingdom ;  and  he  had, 
"  both  by  word  and  in  writing,  suggested  to  several  sheriffs, 
"  that  it  was  the  king's  pleasure  they  should  discharge  many 
"  prisoners,  of  whom  some  were  indicted,  others  apprehended 
"  for  heresy.  And  when  many  particular  complaints  were 
"  brought  to  him  of  detestable  heresies,  with  the  names  of  the 
"  offenders,  he  not  only  defended  the  heretics,  but  severely 
"  checked  the  informers ;  and  vexed  some  of  them  by  impri- 
"  sonment,  and  other  ways,  the  particulars  of  all  which  were 
"  too  tedious  to  be  recited.  And  he,  having  entertained  many 
"  of  the  king's  subjects  about  himself,  whom  he  had  infected 
"  with  heresy,  and  imagining  he  was  by  force  able  to  defend 
"  his  treasons  and  heresies  ;  on  the  last  of  March,  in  the 
"  thirtieth  year  of  the  king's  reign,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Peter's 
"  the  Poor  in  London,  when  some  of  them  complained  to  him 
"  of  the  new  preachers,  such  as  Barnes  and  others,  he  said, 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1540.)  445 

"  their  -preaching  was  good  ;  and  said  also,  among  other 
"  things,  that  if  the  king  would  turn  from  it,  yet  he  woidd 
279  "  not  turn :  and  if  the  king  did  turn,  and  all  his  people  ivith 
"  him,  he  ivould  fight  in  the  field  in  his  own  person,  with  his 
"  sword  in  his  hand,  against  him,  and  all  others :  and  then 
"  he  pulled  out  his  dagger,  and  held  it  up,  and  said,  or  else 
"  this  dagger  thrust  me  to  the  heart,  if  I  woidd  not  die  in 
"  that  quarrel  against  them  all ;  and  I  trust,  if  I  live  one 
"  year  or  tivo,  it  shall  not  be  in  the  king's  power  to  resist,  or 
"  let  it,  if  he  woidd ;  and,  swearing  a  great  oath,  said,  I 
"  ivould  do  so  indeed.  He  had  also  by  oppression  and  bribery 
"  made  a  great  estate  to  himself,  and  extorted  much  money 
"  from  the  king's  subjects ;  and  being  greatly  enriched,  had 
"  treated  the  nobility  with  much  contempt.  And  on  the  last 
"  of  January,  in  the  thirty-first  year  of  the  king's  reign,  in 
"  the  parish  of  St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  when  some  had  put 
"  him  in  mind  to  what  the  king  had  raised  him,  he  said,  If  the 
"  lords  would  handle  him  so,  he  ivould  give  them  such  a 
"  breakfast  as  was  never  made  in  England ;  and  that  the 
"  proudest  of  them  should  know  it.  For  all  which  treasons 
"  and  heresies  he  was  attainted  to  suffer  the  pains  of  death  for 
"  heresy  and  treason,  as  should  please  the  king,  and  to  forfeit 
"  all  his  estate  and  goods  to  the  king's  use,  that  he  had  on  the 
"  last  of  March,  in  the  thirty-first  year  of  the  king's  reign,  or 
"  since  that  time.  There  was  added  to  this  bill  a  proviso69, 
"  that  this  should  not  be  hurtful  to  the  bishop  of  Bath  and 
"  Wells,  and  to  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Wells,  with  whom,  it 
"  seems,  he  had  made  some  exchanges  of  lands." 

From  these  particulars  the  reader  will  clearly  see  why  he  Censures 
was  not  brought  to  make  his  answer,  most  of  them  relating;  to  Passe<* 

.  .  .  .  .  upon  it. 

orders  and  directions  he  had  given,  for  which  it  is  very  pro- 
bable he  had  the  king's  warrant.  And  for  the  matter  of  heresy, 
it  has  appearedhow  far  the  king  had  proceeded  towards  a 
reformation,  so  that  what  he  did  that  way  was  most  likely 
done  by  the  king's  order :  but  the  king  now  falling  from  these 
things,  it  was  thought  they  intended  to  stifle  him  by  such  an 
attainder,  that  he  might  not  discover  the  secret  orders  or  di- 
rections given  him  for  his  own  justification.     For  the  particu- 

69  Cromwell  was  then  dean  of  Wells,  and  that  was  the  reason  of  the 
proviso.  [F.] 


446  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  l 

lars  of  bribery  and  extortion,  they  being  mentioned  in  general 
expressions,  seem  only  cast  into  the  heap  to  defame  him.  But 
for  those  treasonable  words,  it  was  generally  thought  that  they 
were  a  contrivance  of  his  enemies  ;  since  it  seemed  a  thing 
very  extravagant  for  a  favourite,  in  the  height  of  his  greatness, 
to  talk  so  rudely  :  and  if  he  had  been  guilty  of  it,  Bedlam  was 
thought  a  fitter  place  for  his  restraint  than  the  Tower.  Nor 
was  it  judged  likely  that,  he  having  such  great  and  watchful 
enemies  at  court,  any  such  discourses  could  have  lain  so  long 
secret :  or  if  they  had  come  to  the  king's  knowledge,  he  was 
not  a  prince  of  such  a  temper  as  to  have  forgiven,  much  less 
employed  and  advanced  a  man  after  such  discourses.  And  to 
think,  that,  during  these  fifteen  months,  after  the  words  were 
said  to  have  been  spoken,  none  would  have  had  the  zeal  for 
the  king,  or  the  malice  to  Cromwell,  as  to  repeat  them,  were 
things  that  could  not  be  believed.  The  formality  of  drawing 
his  dagger  made  it  the  more  suspected  ;  for  this  was  to  affix 
an  overt  act  to  these  words,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  many 
lawyers,  was  necessary  to  make  words  treasonable.  But,  as  if 
these  words  had  not  been  ill  enough,  some  writers  since  have 
made  them  worse ;  as  if  he  had  said,  He  would  thrust  his 
[Fuller, lib.  dagger  in  the  king's  heart:  about  which  Fuller  hath  made 
v'  p' 2''3 '*  another  story  to  excuse  these  words,  as  if  they  had  not  been  280 
meant  of  the  king,  but  of  another.  But  all  that  is  founded 
on  a  mistake,  which,  if  he  had  looked  in  the  record,  he  had 
corrected. 
The  king  Cromwell's  fall  was  the  first  step  towards  the  king's  divorce  : 
divorce  for,  ou  the  twenty -fourth  of  June70,  he  sent  his  queen  to  Ricn- 
from  his      mond,  pretending;  the  country  air  would  agree  better  with  her. 

queen.  l  .      &  "  & 

[Journals     But  on  the  sixth  of  July  a  motion  was  made,  and  assented  to 

of  Lords,     •    t|     house  of  lords,  that  thev  should  make  an  addess  to  the 
p.  1 53.]         #  '  ■ 

king,  desiring  him  to  suffer  his  marriage  with  the  queen  to 

be  tried  :  upon  which  the  lord  chancellor,  the  archbishop  of 

Canterbury,  the   dukes  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  the  earl  of 

Southampton,  and  the  bishop  of  Durham,  were  sent  down  to 

70  Hall  [p.  839]   and  lord  Her-  king  sent  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  the 

bert  [p- 521]  say  this  was  on  the  earl  of  Southampton  and  Wriothes- 

twenty-fifth,  which  you  put  on  the  ley,  on  the  25th  of  June  to  her  at 

twenty-fourth  of  June.  [F.]    [Her-  Richmond,  to  which  place  she  had 

bert  does  not  say  this,  but  that  the  been  lately  removed.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  447 

the  commons,  to  represent  the  matter  to  them,  and  to  desire 
their  concurrence  in  the  address.  To  which  they  agreed,  and 
ordered  twenty  of  their  number  to  go  along  with  the  peers. 
So  the  whole  house  of  lords,  with  these  commoners,  went  to 
the  king,  and  told  him,  they  had  a  matter  of  great  consequence 
to  propose  to  him,  but  it  was  of  that  importance,  that  they 
first  begged  his  leave  to  move  it.  That  being  obtained,  they 
desired  the  king  would  order  a  trial  to  be  made  of  the  validity 
of  his  marriage.  To  which  the  king  consented ;  and  made  a 
deep  protestation,  as  in  the  presence  of  God,  that  he  should 
conceal  nothing  that  related  to  it,  and  all  its  circumstances  ; 
and  that  there  was  nothing  that  he  held  dearer  than  the  glory 
of  God,  the  good  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the  declaration  of 
truth"1.  So  a  commission  was  issued  out  to  the  convocation 
to  try  it. 

On  the  seventh  of  July  it  was  brought  before  the  convoca-  It  is  refer- 
tion,  of  which  the  reader  will  see  a  fuller  account  in  the  Collec-  convoca-"3 
tion  at  the  end  than  is  needful  to  be  brought  in  here.     The  tion- 

.  [Wilkins 

case  was  opened  by  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  a  committee  Cone,  iii.' 
was  appointed  to  consider  it;  and  they  deputed  the  bishop  of8?1! 
Durham,  and  Winchester,  and  Thirlby,  and  Richard  Layton, 
dean  of  York,  to  examine  the  witnesses  that  day.     And  the 
next  day  they  received  the  king's  own  deposition ;  with  a  long  Collect. 
declaration  of  the  whole  matter,  under  Cromwell's  hand,  in  a  o<Juect  '7 
letter  to  the  king;  and  the  depositions  of  most  of  the  privy  Numb.  18. 
counsellors,  of  the  earl  of  Southampton,  the  lord  Russell,  then 
admiral,  of  sir  Anthony  Brown,   sir   Anthony  Denny,  doctor 
Chambers,  and  doctor  Butt,  the  king's  physicians,  and  of  some 

71  [On  Sunday,  July  4,  Henry  letter,  and  that  after  this  the  address 

wrote   to  Pate,   telling  him  to  get  was  made  to  the  king, 

access  to  the  emperor  on  Thursday  Pate's  answer,  dated  from  Bruges, 

morning,  July  8,  and  to  inform  him  July  9,  states,  that  he  had  received 

that   on   the    night   before  he  had  the  king's  letter  at  midnight  on  the 

received  letters  from  the  king  stat-  6th  of  July,  and  had  had  his  audience 

ing,  that  parliament  had  entreated  with  the  emperor  on  the  8th.     This 

him  to  commit  the  examination  of  letter  is  printed  in  '  State  Papers,' 

his   marriage   to   the   bishops   and  vol.  viii.  p.  386.     See  also  Herbert, 

clergy.     This   letter  is    printed   in  p.  520,  for  an  account  of  the  mission 

'  State  Papers,'  vol.  vin.  p.  373.  of  the  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  to 

From  the  Journals  of  the  house  the  duke  of  Cleves,  at  the  end  of 

of  Lords,  it  appears  that  the  subject  June,  and  the  counter-instructions 

was   first   mooted   there  two   days  of  July  3,  and  July  6.] 
later  than  the  date  of  the   king's 


448 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Reasons 

pretended 
for  it. 


|Wilkins, 
Cone.  iii. 
85+.] 


Convoca- 
tion agree 
to  it. 
Collect. 
Numb.  19. 

It  is  cen- 
mired. 


ladies  that  had  talked  with  the  queen.  All  which  amounted  to 
this ;  that  the  king  expected  that  the  precontract  with  the 
marquis  of  Lorraine  should  have  been  more  fully  cleared. 
That  the  king  always  disliked  her,  and  married  her  full  sore 
against  his  heart ;  and  since  that  time  he  had  never  consum- 
mated the  marriage.  So,  the  substance  of  the  whole  evidence 
being  considered,  it  amounted  to  these  three  particulars.  First, 
That  there  had  been  a  contract  between  the  marquis  of  Lor- 
raine and  the  queen,  which  was  not  sufficiently  cleared :  for  it 
did  not  yet  appear,  whether  these  espousals  were  made  by  the 
parties  themselves,  or  in  the  words  of  the  present  tense.  Then 
it  was  said,  that  the  king  having  married  her  against  his  will, 
he  had  not  given  a  pure,  inward,  and  complete  consent :  and 
since  a  man's  act  is  only  what  is  inward,  extorted  or  forced 
promises  do  not  bind.  And,  thirdly,  That  he  had  never  con- 
summated the  marriage.  To  which  was  added,  the  great 
interest  the  whole  nation  had  in  the  king's  having  more  issue, 
which  they  saw  he  could  never  have  by  the  queen.  This  was  281 
furiously  driven  on  by  the  popish  party  :  and  Cranmer,  whether 
overcome  with  these  arguments,  or  rather  with  fear,  for  he 
knew  it  was  contrived  to  send  him  quickly  after  Cromwell, 
consented  with  the  rest.  So  that  the  whole  convocation,  with- 
out one  disagreeing  vote,  judged  the  marriage  null,  and  of  110 
force :  and  that  both  the  king  and  the  lady  were  free  from  the 
bond  of  it. 

This  was  the  greatest  piece  of  compliance  that  ever  the  king- 
had  from  the  clergy.  For  as  they  all  knew  there  was  nothing 
of  weight  in  that  precontract,  so  they  laid  down  a  most  per- 
nicious precedent  for  invalidating  all  public  treaties  and  agree- 
ments :  since,  if  one  of  the  parties  being  unwilling  to  it,  so 
that  his  consent  were  not  inward,  he  was  not  bound  by  it, 
there  was  no  safety  among  men  more.  For  no  man  can  know 
Avhether  another  consents  inwardly ;  and  when  a  man  does 
any  thing  with  great  aversion,  to  infer  from  thence  that  he 
does  not  inwardly  consent,  may  furnish  every  one  with  an  ex- 
cuse to  break  loose  from  all  engagements  :  for  he  may  pretend 
he  did  it  unwillingly,  and  get  his  friends  to  declare  that  he 
privately  signified  that  to  them.  And  for  that  argument, 
which  was  taken  from  the  want  of  consummation,  they  had 
forgotten  what  was  pleaded  on  the  king's  behalf  ten  years  be- 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  449 

fore  :  that  consent,  without  consummation,  made  a  marriage 
complete  ;  by  which  they  concluded,  that  though  prince  Arthur 
had  not  consummated  his  marriage  with  queen  Catharine,  yet 
his  consent  did  so  complete  it,  that  the  king  could  not  after- 
wards lawfully  marry  her.  But  as  the  king  was  resolved  on 
any  terms  to  be  rid  of  this  queen,  so  the  clergy  were  also  re- 
solved not  to  incur  his  displeasure  ;  in  which  they  rather 
sought  for  reasons  to  give  some  colour  to  their  sentence,  than 
passed  their  judgment  upon  the  strength  of  them.  This  only 
can  be  said  for  their  excuse,  that  these  were  as  just  and  weighty 
reasons  as  used  to  bo  admitted  by  the  court  of  Rome  for  a 
divorce:  and  most  of  them  being  canonists,  and  knowing  how 
many  precedents  there  were  to  be  found  for  such  divorces, 
they  thought  they  might  do  it,  as  well  as  the  popes  had  for- 
merly done7'2. 

On  the  ninth  of  July  sentence  was  given  ;  which  was  signed  [Wilkins, 
by  both  houses  of  convocation,  and  had  the  two  archbishops'  p  g54  -j  ' 
seals  put  to  it ;  of  which  whole  trial  the  record  does  yet  re- 
main, having  escaped  the  fate  of  the  other  books  of  convoca- 
tion.    The  original  depositions  are  also  yet  extant. 

Only  I  shall  add  here  a  reflection  upon  Cromwell's  misfor- 
tune, which  may  justly  abate  the  loftiness  of  haughty  men. 
The  day  after  he  was  attainted,  being  required  to  send  to  the 
king  a  full  account,  under  his  hand,  of  the  business  of  his 
marriage ;  which  account  he  sent,  as  will  be  found  in  the  Col-  Collect. 

0  .  Numb.  1 7. 

lection  ;  he  concludes  it  with  these  abject  words  :  "  I,  a  most  [gee  ais0 
"  woful  prisoner,  ready  to  take  the  death  when  it  shall  please  P"1U1' 
"  God  and  your  majesty ;  and  yet  the  frail  flesh  inciteth  me  Collect. 
"  continually  to  call  to  your  grace  for  mercy,  and  grace  for  Numb68l 
"  mine  offences.     And  thus  Christ  save,  preserve,  and  keep 
"  you.     Written  at  the  Tower  this  Wednesday,   the  last  of 
"  June,  with  the  heavy  heart,  and  trembling  hand,  of  your 
"  highness'   most  heavy,   and    most    miserable   prisoner,   and 
282  "  poor  slave,  Thomas  Cromwell."     And  a  little   below   that, 
"  Most  gracious  prince,  I  cry  for  mercy,  mercy,  mercy." 

On  the  tenth  of  July,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  reported  Report 
to  the  house  of  lords,  that  the  convocation  had  judged  the  thfe  pariia. 
marriage  null,  both  by  the  law  of  God,  and  the  law  of  the  ment- 

•  .  '      .  ...  .  .  .      [Journals 

land.     The  bishop  of  Winchester   delivered  the  judgment  m  nf Lords, 
"2  [See  part  hi.  p.  148.]  p'  IM"3 

BURNET.  PART  I.  G  g 


450 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part 


The  queen 
consents 
to  it. 


Collect. 
Numb.  20. 
[Journals 
of  Lords, 
P-  I55-] 

An  act 
about  the 
inconti- 
nence of 
priests. 
[Ibid. 

P-  157- 
Cap.  10. 

Statutes, 
vol.  iii. 

P-  754-] 
[Journals 
of  Lords, 
P-  !59-] 
[Ibid, 
p.  159.] 


writing ;  which  being  read,  he  enlarged  on  all  the  reasons  of 
it.  This  satisfied  the  lords,  and  they  sent  down  Cranmer  and 
him  to  the  commons,  to  give  them  the  same  account.  Next 
day  the  king  sent  the  lord  chancellor,  the  duke  of  Norfolk, 
the  earl  of  Southampton,  and  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  to  let 
the  queen  know  what  was  done  ;  who  was  not  at  all  troubled 
at  it,  and  seemed  not  ill  pleased.  They  told  her,  that  the  king 
would  by  letters  patents  declare  her  his  adopted  sister,  and 
give  her  precedence  before  all  the  ladies  of  England,  next  his 
queen  and  daughters,  and  assign  her  an  estate  of  three  thou- 
sand pounds  a  year ;  and  that  she  had  her  choice,  either  to 
live  in  England,  or  to  return  home  again.  She  accepted  the 
offer,  and  under  her  hand  declared  her  consent  and  approba- 
tion of  the  sentence ;  and  chose  to  live  still  in  England,  where 
she  was  in  great  honour,  rather  than  return  under  that  dis- 
grace to  her  own  country.  She  was  also  desired  to  write  to 
her  brother,  and  let  him  know,  that  she  approved  of  what  was 
done  in  her  matter,  and  that  the  king  used  her  as  a  father,  or 
a  brother  ;  and  therefore  to  desire  him,  and  her  other  friends, 
not  to  take  this  matter  ill,  or  lessen  their  friendship  to  the  king. 
She  had  no  mind  to  do  that ;  but  said,  it  would  be  time  enough, 
when  her  brother  wrote  to  her,  to  send  him  such  an  answer. 
But  it  was  answered,  that  much  depended  on  the  first  impres- 
sions that  are  received  of  any  matter.  She  in  conclusion  said, 
she  should  obey  the  king  in  every  thing  he  desired  her  to  do. 
So  she  wrote  the  letter  as  they  desired  it ;  and  the  day  follow- 
ing, being  the  twelfth  of  July,  the  bill  was  brought  into  the 
house  for  annulling  the  marriage,  which  went  easily  through 
both  houses. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  July,  a  bill  was  brought  in  for  moderat- 
ing the  statute  of  the  six  articles  in  the  clauses  that  related  to 
the  marriage  of  the  priests,  or  their  incontinency  with  other 
women.  On  the  seventeenth  it  was  agreed  by  the  whole 
house,  without  a  contradictory  vote,  and  sent  down  to  the 
commons;  who  on  the  twenty -first  sent  it  up  again.  By  it 
the  pains  of  death  were  turned  to  forfeitures  of  their  goods 
and  chattels,  and  the  rents  of  their  ecclesiastical  promotions, 
to  the  king. 

On  the  twentieth  of  July,  a  bill  was  brought  in  concerning  a 
declaration  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  was  then  read  the 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  451 

first,  second,  and  third  time,  and  passed  without  any  oppose  Another 

...  ,  •         , '  .  about  reli- 

tion,  and  sent  down  to  tlie  commons  ;  who  agreeing  to  it,  sent  ffi(m 

it  up  again  the  next  day.     It  contained,  "  That  the  king,  as  [Cap.  38. 

10  t/  '  «  Statutes 

"  supreme  head  of  the  church,  was  taking  much  pains  for  an  vtol  ii;  ' 
"  union  among  all  his  subjects  in  matters  of  religion ;  and,  for  P-  783-l 
"  preventing  the  further  progress  of  heresy,  had  appointed 
"  many  of  the  bishops,  and  the  most  learned  divines,  to  declare 
"  the  principal  articles  of  the  Christian  belief,  with  the  cere- 
"  monies,  and  way  of  God's  service  to   be  observed.     That 
«  therefore  a  thing  of  that  weight  might  not  be  rashly  done, 
283  "  or  hasted  through  in  this  session  of  parliament ;  but  be  done 
"  with  that  care  which  was  requisite ;"  therefore  it  was  en- 
acted, "  that  whatsoever  was  determined  by  the  archbishops,  [Ibid.  p. 
"  bishops,  and  the  other  divines,  now  commissionated  for  that  '"4' 
"  effect,  or  by  any  others  appointed  by  the  king,  or  by  the 
"  whole  clergy  of  England,  and  published  by  the  king's  author- 
"  ity,   concerning  the  Christian  faith,   or    the   ceremonies  of 
"  the  church,  should  be  believed  and  obeyed  by  all  the  king's 
"  subjects,  as  well  as  if  the  particulars  so  set  forth  had  been 
"  enumerated  in  this  act,  any  custom  or  law  to  the  contrary 
"  notwithstanding."     To  this  a  strange  proviso  was   added, 
which  destroyed  the  former  clause ;  "  that  nothing  should  be 
"  done  or  determined  by  the  authority  of  this  act,  which  was 
"  contrary  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  kingdom."     But 
whether  this  proviso  was  added  by  the  house  of  commons,  or 
originally  put  into   the  bill,  does  not  appear.     It  was  more 
likely  it  was  put  in  at  the  first  by  the  king>3s  council ;  for  these 
contradictory  clauses  raised  the  prerogative  higher,  and  left  it 
in  the  judge's  power  to  determine  which  of  the  two  should  be 
followed ;  by  which  all  ecclesiastical  matters  were  to  be  brought 
under  trials  at  common  law  :  for  it  was  one  of  the  great  de  - 
signs,  both    of  the   ministers   and   lawyers,  at  this  time,   to 
bring  all  ecclesiastical  matters  to  the  cognizance  of  the  secular 
judge. 

But  another  bill  passed,  which  seems  a  little  odd,  concerning  [ibid,  p. 
the  circumstances  of  that  time.    "  That  whereas  many  marriages  ' 9 2  d 
"  had  been  annulled  in  the  time  of  popery,  upon  the  pretence  of 
"  precontracts,  or  other  degrees  of  kindred,  than  those  that 
"  were  prohibited  by  the  law  of  God :    therefore,  after  a  mar- 
"  riage    was    consummated,  no  pretence  of  any  precontract, 

G  2'  2 


452  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

"  or  any  degrees  of  kindred  or  alliance,  but  those  mentioned  in 
"  the  law  of  God,  should  be  brought  or  made  use  of  to  annul 
"  it ;  since  these  things  had  been  oft  pretended  only  to  dissolve 
"  a  marriage,  when  the  parties  grew  weary  of  each  other, 
"  which  was  contrary  to  God's  law.  Therefore  it  was  enacted, 
"  that  no  pretence  of  precontract,  not  consummated,  should  be 
"  made  use  of  to  annul  a  marriage  duly  solemnized  and  con- 
"  summated  ;  and  that  no  degrees  of  kindred,  not  mentioned 
"  by  the  law  of  God,  should  be  pleaded  to  annul  a  marriage." 
This  act  gave  great  occasion  of  censuring  the  king's  former 
proceedings  against  queen  Anne  Boleyn,  since  that  which  was 
now  condemned  had  been  the  pretence  for  dissolving  his  marriage 
with  her.  Others  thought  the  king  did  it  on  design  to  remove 
that  impediment  out  of  the  way  of  the  lady  Elizabeth's  succeed- 
ing to  the  crown ;  since  that  judgment,  upon  which  she  was 
illegitimated,  was  now  indirectly  censured  :  and  that  other 
branch  of  the  act,  for  taking  away  all  prohibitions  of  marriages, 
within  any  degrees  but  those  forbidden  in  scripture,  was  to 
make  way  for  the  king's  marriage  with  Catharine  Howard, 
who  was  cousin-german  to  queen  Anne  Boleyn ;  for  that  was 
one  of  the  prohibited  degrees  by  the  canon  law. 
Subsidies         The  province  of  Canterbury  offered  a  subsidy  of  four  shillmo-s 

granted  bv  . 

the  clergy  ;  in  the  pound  of  all  ecclesiastical  preferments,  to  be  paid  in  two 

pVilkms,     years  j  and  t}iat,  [n  acknowledgment  of  the  great  liberty  they 

p.  850.]       enjoyed  by  being  delivered  from  the  usurpations  of  the  bishops 

of  Rome,  and  in  recompense  of  the  great  charges  the  king  had 

[July  21,     been  at,  and  was  still  to  be  at,  in  building  havens,  bulwarks,  284 

of  Lords,     and  other  forts,  for  the  defence  of  his  coasts,  and  the  security 

P-  x59-]       of  his  subjects.     This  was  confirmed  in  parliament.     But  that 

did  not  satisfy  the  king,  who  had  husbanded  the  money  that 

came  in  by  the  sale  of  abbey-lands  so  ill,  that  now  he  wanted 

money,  and  was  forced  to  ask  a  subsidy  for  his  marriage  of  the 

And  laity,  parliament.     This  was  obtained  with  great  difficulty  :    for  it 

was  said,  that  if  the  king  was  already  in  want,  after  so  vast  an 

income,  especially  being  engaged  in  no  war,  there  would  be  no 

end  of  his  necessities ;   nor  could  it  be  possible  for  them  to 

supply  them.     But  it  was  answered,  that  the  king  had  laid  out 

a  great  treasure  in  fortifying  the  coast ;  and  though  he  was 

then  in  no  visible  war,  yet  the  charge  he  was  at  in  keeping  up 

the  war  beyond  sea  was  equal  to  the  expense  of  a  war ;  and 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  453 

much   more  to  the  advantage  of  his  people,  who  were  kept 
in  peace  and  plenty.    This  obtained  a  tenth,  and  four  fifteenths. 
After  the  passing  of  all  these  bills,  and  many  others  that  con- 
cerned the  public,  with  several  other  bills  of  attainder,  for 
some  that  favoured  the  pope's  interests,  or  corresponded  with 
cardinal  Pole,  which  shall  be  mentioned  in  another  place,  the 
king  sent  in  a  general  pardon,  with  the  ordinary  exceptions  ;  [Statutes, 
and  in  particular  excepted  Cromwell,  the  countess  of  Sarum,  p°8oq'i 
with  many  others,  then  in  prison :   some  of  them  were  put  in 
for  opposing  the  king's  supremacy,  and  others  for  transgress- 
ing the  statute  of  the  six  articles.     On  the  twenty-fourth  of  [Journals 
July  the  parliament  was  dissolved.  °  i(il{' 

And  now  Cromwell,  who  had  been  six  weeks  a  prisoner,  was  Cromwell's 
brought  to  his  execution.     He  had  used  all  the  endeavours  he  death- 
could  for  his  own  preservation.     Once  he  wrote  to  the  king  in 
such  melting  terms,  that  he  made  the  letter  to  be  thrice  read, 
and  seemed  touched   with  it.     But  the  charms  of  Catharine 
Howard,  and  the  endeavours  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk  and  the 
bishop  of  Winchester,  at  length  prevailed.     So  a  warrant  was  [Herbert, 
sent  to   cut  off  his   head,   on  the   twenty-eighth   of  July,  at p' 
Tower-hill.     When  he  was  brought  to  the  scaffold,  his  kindness 
to  his  son  made  him  very  cautious  in  what  he  said  :  he  declined 
the  purging  of  himself,  but  said,  "  he  was  by  law  condemned  [Hall, 
"  to  die,  and  thanked  God  for  bringing  him  to  that  death  for 
"  his  offences.     He  acknowledged  his  sins  against  God,  and 
"  his  offences  against  his  prince,  who   had  raised  him  from 
"  a  base  degree.     He  declared  that  he  died  in  the  catholic 
"  faith,  not  doubting  of  any  article  of  faith,  or  of  any  sacra- 
"  ment  of  the  church ;  and  denied  that  he  had  been  a  supporter 
"  of  those  who  delivered  ill  opinions  :  he  confessed  he  had  been 
"  seduced,  but  now  died  in  the  catholic  faith,  and  desired  them 
"  to  pray  for  the  king,  and  for  the  prince,  and  for  himself : 
*'  and  then  prayed  very  fervently  for  the  remission  of  his  past 
"  sins,  and  admittance  into  eternal  glory."     And  having  given 
the  sign,  the  executioner  cut  off  his  head  very  barbarously. 

Thus  fell  that  great  minister,  that  was  raised  merely  upon  Hischarac- 
thc  strength  of  his  natural  parts.     For  as  his  extraction  was 
mean,  so  his  education  was  low  :   all  the  learning  he  had  was,  Fox.  [vol. 
that  he  had  got  the  New  Testament  in  Latin  by  heart.     His  il  p  4I9] 
great  wisdom,  and  dexterity  in  business,  raised  him  up  through 


454  THE  HISTORY  OF  [pabt  i. 

several  steps,  till  lie  was  become  as  great  as  a  subject  could  be. 
He  carried  his  greatness  with  wonderful  temper  and  modera-  285 
tii m  ;  and  tell  under  the  weight  of  popular  odium  rather  than 
guilt.  The  disorders  in  the  suppression  of  abbeys  were  gene- 
rally charged  on  him  :  yet,  when  he  fell,  no  bribery,  nor 
cheating  of  the  king,  could  be  fastened  on  him  ;  though  such 
things  come  out  in  swarms  on  a  disgraced  favourite,  when  there 
is  any  ground  for  them.  By  what  he  spoke  at  his  death,  he 
left  it  much  doubted  of  what  religion  he  died  :  but  it  is  certain 
he  was  a  Lutheran.  The  term  catholic  faith,  used  by  him  in 
his  last  speech,  seemed  to  make  it  doubtful  ;  but  that  was  then 
used  in  England  in  its  true  sense,  in  opposition  to  the  novelties 
of  the  see  of  Rome,  as  will  afterwards  appear  on  another  occa- 
sion. So  that  his  profession  of  the  catholic  faith  was  strangely 
perverted,  when  some  from  thence  concluded,  that  he  died  in 
the  communion  of  the  church  of  Rome.  But  his  praying  in 
English,  and  that  only  to  God  through  Christ,  without  any  of 
those  tricks  that  were  used  when  those  of  that  church  died, 
shewed  he  was  none  of  theirs.  With  him  the  office  of  the 
king's  vicegerent  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  died,  as  it  rose  first  in 
his  person  :  and  as  all  the  clergy  opposed  the  setting  up  a  new 
officer,  whose  interest  should  oblige  him  to  oppose  a  reconcilia- 
tion with  Rome,  so  it  seems  none  were  fond  to  succeed  in  an 
office  that  proved  so  fatal  to  him  that  had  first  carried  it.  The 
king  was  said  to  have  lamented  his  death  after  it  was  too  late ; 
but  the  fall  of  the  new  queen,  that  followed  not  long  after,  and 
the  miseries  which  fell  also  on  the  duke  of  Norfolk  and  his 
family,  some  years  alter,  were  looked  on  as  the  scourges  of 
Heaven  for  their  cruel  prosecution  of  this  unfortunate  minister. 
With  his  fall,  the  progress  of  the  reformation,  which  had 
been  by  his  endeavours  so  far  advanced,  was  quite  stopped. 
For  all  that  Cranmer  could  do  after  this  was,  to  keep  the 
ground  they  had  gained  ;  but  he  could  never  advance  much 
further.  And  indeed  every  one  expected  to  sec  him  go  next : 
Designs  lor,  as  one  Gostwick,  knight  for  Bedfordshire,  had  named  him 
in  the  house  of  commons  as  the  supporter  and  promoter  of  all 
the  heresy  that  was  in  England  ;  so  the  popish  party  reckoned 
they  had  but  half  done  their  work  by  destroying  Cromwell ; 
and  that  it  was  not  finished  till  Cranmer  followed  him.  There- 
fore  all   posssible   endeavours   were   used    to  make  discoveries 


against 
Cranmer. 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION,     (1540.)  455 

of  the  encouragement  which,  as  was  believed,  he  gave  to  the 
preachers  of  the  condemned  doctrines.    And  it  is  very  probable, 
that  had  not  the  incontinence  of  Catharine  Howard  (whom  the 
king  declared  queen  on  the  eighth  of  August)  broken  out  not  Herbert, 
long  after,  he  had  been  sacrificed  the  next  session  of  parlia-  1>-  525'-' 
ment. 

But  now  I  return  to  my  proper  business,  to  give  an  account 
of  church-matters  for  this  year  ;  with  which  these  great  changes 
in  court  had  so  great  a  relation,  that  the  reader  will  excuse  the 
digression  about  them. 

Upon  Cromwell's  fall,  Gardiner,  and  those  that  followed 
him,  made  no  doubt  but  they  should  quickly  recover  what  they 
had  lost  of  late  years.  So  their  greatest  attempt  was  upon  the 
translation  of  the  scriptures.  The  convocation-books  (as  I 
have  been  forced  often  to  lament)  are  lost ;  so  that  here  I 
cannot  stir,  but  as  Fuller  leads  me;  who  assures  the  world, 
286  that  he  copied  out  of  the  records  with  his  own  pen  what  he 
published.  And  yet  I  doubt  he  has  mistaken  himself  in  the 
year ;  and  that  which  he  calls  the  convocation  of  this  year, 
"Was  the  convocation  of  the  year  1542  :  for  he  tells  us,  that  their  [Fuller, 
seventh  session  was  the  tenth  of  March.  Now  in  this  year  the 
convocation  did  not  sit  down  till  the  thirteenth  of  April ;  but 
that  year  it  sat  all  March.  So  likewise  he  tells  us  of  the 
bishops  of  Westminster,  Gloucester,  and  Peterborough,  bearing  [ibid. 
a  share  in  this  convocation  :  whereas  these  were  not  consecrated  p'  2 
before  winter,  and  could  not  sit  as  bishops  in  this  synod.  And, 
besides,  Thirlby  sat  at  this  time  in  the  lower  house ;  as  was 
formerly  shewn  in  the  process  about  Anne  of  Cleves'  marriage. 
So  that  their  attempt  against  the  New  Testament  belongs  to 
the  year  1542. 

But  they  were  now  much  better  employed,  though  not  in  the  A  coin- 
way  of  convocation70;    for  a  select  number  of  them  sat  by  sjts  about 
virtue  of  a  commission  from  the  king,  confirmed  in  parliament,  religion. 
Their  first  work  was  to  draw  up  a  declaration  of  the  Christian 
doctrine,  for  the  necessary  erudition  of  a   Christian  man. 

73  [See  part  iii.  p.  159,  where  the  the  upper   to   the   lower  house  of 

author  again  asserts  that '  the  Neces-  convocation,  between  the  twentieth 

sary  Erudition  was  never  brought  and    thirtieth    of    April    1543,    on 

in  convocation.'     It   appears   from  which  day  the  article  of  free-will  was 

Wilkins'   Concilia,  vol.  iii.  p.  868,  read,  and  the  whole  book  sanctioned 

that  it  was  presented  in  portions  by  and  returned  to  the  upper  house.] 


456  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

They  thought,  that  to  speak  of  faith  in  general  ought  naturally 
to  go  before  an  exposition  of  the  Christian  belief;    and  there- 
fore with  that  they  began. 
An  expla-        The  church  of  Rome,  that  designed  to  keep  her  children  in 

nation  of  „       .  .  . 

fivith.  ignorance,  had  made  no  great  account  ot  iaith ;  winch,  they 

generally  taught,  consisted  chiefly  in  an  implicit  believing 
whatever  the  church  proposed,  without  any  explicit  knowledge 
of  particulars  :  so  that  a  Christian  faith,  as  they  had  explained 
it,  was  a  submission  to  the  church.  The  reformers,  finding 
that  this  was  the  spring  of  all  their  other  errors,  and  that 
which  gave  them  colour  and  authority,  did  on  the  other  hand 
set  up  the  strength  of  their  whole  cause  on  an  explicit  believing 
the  truth  of  the  scriptures,  because  of  the  authority  of  God, 
who  had  revealed  them  :  and  said,  that  as  the  great  subject  of 
the  apostles'1  preaching  was  faith,  so  that  which  they  every 
where  taught  was,  to  read  and  believe  the  scriptures.  Upon 
which  followed  nice  disputing,  what  was  that  saving  faith  by 
which  the  scriptures  say  we  are  justified.  They  could  not 
say,  it  was  barely  crediting  the  divine  revelation,  since  in  that 
sense  the  devils  believed :  therefore  they  generally  placed  it, 
at  first,  in  their  being  assured  that  they  should  be  saved  by 
Christ  dying  for  them.  In  which,  their  design  was,  to  make 
holiness,  and  all  other  graces,  necessary  requisites  in  the  corn- 
position  of  faith  ;  though  they  would  not  make  them  formally 
parts  of  it.  For  since  Christ's  death  has  its  full  virtue  and 
eifect  upon  none  but  those  who  are  regenerate,  and  live  ac- 
cording to  his  gospel ;  none  could  be  assured  that  he  should 
be  saved  by  Christ's  death  till  he  first  found  in  himself  these 
necessary  qualifications  which  are  delivered  in  the  gospel. 
Having  once  settled  on  this  phrase,  their  followers  would  needs 
defend  it,  but  really  made  it  worse  by  their  explanations.  The 
church  of  Rome  thought  they  had  them  at  great  advantages  in 
it,  and  called  them  Solifidians,  and  said,  they  were  against 
good  works :  though,  whatever  unwary  expressions  some  of 
them  threw  out,  they  always  declared  good  works  indispensably 
necessary  to  salvation.  But  they  differed  from  the  church  of 
Rome  in  two  things  that  were  material.  There  was  also  a 
third,  but  there  the  difference  was  more  in  the  manner  of  ex- 
pression. The  one  was,  What  were  good  works  ?  The  church  287 
of  Rome  had  generally  delivered,  that  works  which  did  an 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  457 

immediate  honour  to  God,  or  his  saints,  were  more  valuable 
than  works  done  to  other  men ;  and  that  the  honour  they  did 
to  saints,  in  their  images  and  relics,  and  to  God,  in  his  priests 
that  were  dedicated  to  him,  were  the  highest  pieces  of  holiness, 
as  having  the  best  objects.  This  was  the  foundation  of  all  that 
trade,  which  brought  in  both  riches  and  glory  to  their  church. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  reformers  taught,  that  justice  and 
mercy,  with  other  good  works,  done  in  obedience  to  God's 
commandments,  were  only  necessary.  And  for  these  things, 
so  much  magnified  at  Rome,  they  acknowledged  there  ought 
to  be  a  decent  splendour  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  good  pro- 
vision to  be  made  for  the  encouragement  of  those  who  dedicated 
themselves  to  his  service  in  the  church ;  and  that  what  was 
beyond  these  was  the  effect  of  ignorance  and  superstition.  The 
other  main  difference  was  about  the  merit  of  good  works,  which 
the  friars  had  raised  so  high,  that  people  were  come  to  think 
they  bought  and  sold  with  Almighty  God,  for  heaven  and  all 
other  his  blessings.  This  the  reformers  judged  was  the  height 
of  arrogance  :  and  therefore  taught,  that  good  works  were 
indeed  absolutely  necessary  to  salvation ;  but  that  the  purchase 
of  heaven  was  only  by  the  death  and  intercession  of  Jesus 
Christ.  With  these  material  differences,  they  joined  another, 
that  consisted  more  in  words ;  Whether  obedience  was  an  es- 
sential part  of  faith  ?  The  reformers  said,  it  certainly  accom- 
panied and  followed  faith  ;  but  thought  not  fit  to  make  it  an 
ingredient  in  the  nature  of  faith.  These  things  had  been  now 
much  canvassed  in  disputes :  and  it  was  thought  by  many, 
that  men  of  ill  lives  made  no  good  use  of  some  of  the  expres- 
sions of  the  reformers,  that  separated  faith  from  good  works, 
and  came  to  persuade  themselves,  that  if  they  could  but  attain 
to  a  firm  assurance  that  they  should  be  saved  by  Christ,  all 
would  be  wTell  with  them.  Therefore  now,  when  they  went 
about  to  state  the  true  notion  of  faith,  Cranmer  commanded 
doctor  Redmayn,  who  was  esteemed  the  most  learned  and 
judicious  divine  of  that  time,  to  write  a  short  treatise  on  these 
heads  "4  :  which  he  did  with  that  solidity  and  clearness,  that  it 
will  sufficiently  justify  any  advantageous  character  that  can  be 
given  of  the  author :  and,  according  to  the  conclusions  of  that 

74  [It  was  published  after  his  death  under  the  title  Opus  de  Justifica- 
tione,  Ant.  1555,  4to.] 


458 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Formu- 
laries of 

Faith,  p 
221.  ed. 
Oxon. 
1825.] 


[Ibid. 
p.  223.] 


[Ibid.  p. 

224.J 


Crammer's 

opinion 
about  it. 


treatise,  they  laid  down  the  nature  of  faith  thus  ;  "  That  it 
"  stands  in  two  several  senses  in  scripture.  The  one  is,  the 
"  persuasion  of  the  truths,  both  of  natural  and  revealed  re- 
"  ligion,  wrought  in  the  mind  by  God's  holy  Spirit.  And  the 
"  other  is,  such  a  belief  as  begets  a  submission  to  the  will  of 
"  God,  and  hath  hope,  love,  and  obedience  to  God's  command- 
u  ments  joined  to  it ;  which  was  Abraham's  faith,  and  that 
"  which,  according  to  St.  Paul,  wrought  by  charity,  and  was 
"  so  much  commended  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  That 
"  this  was  the  faith  which  in  baptism  is  professed,  from  which 
"  Christians  are  called  the  faithful.  And  in  those  scriptures, 
"  where  it  is  said,  that  we  are  justified  by  faith,  they  declared, 
"  we  may  not  think  that  we  be  justified  by  faith,  as  it  is  a 
"  separate  virtue  from  hope  and  charity,  fear  of  God,  and 
"  repentance  ;  but  by  it  is  meant  faith,  neither  only,  nor  alone, 
"  but  with  the  foresaid  virtues  coupled  together ;  containing 
"  (as  is  aforesaid)  the  obedience  to  the  whole  doctrine  and  288 
"  religion  of  Christ.  But  for  the  definition  of  faith,  which 
"  some  proposed,  as  if  it  were  a  certainty  that  one  was  pre- 
"  destinated,  they  found  nothing  of  it,  either  in  the  scriptures, 
"  or  the  doctors  ;  and  thought  that  could  not  be  known  :  for 
"  though  God  never  failed  in  his  promises  to  men,  yet,  such 
"  was  the  frailty  of  men,  that  they  often  failed  in  their  promises 
"  to  God,  and  so  did  forfeit  their  right  to  the  promises,  which 
"  are  all  made  upon  conditions  that  depend  on  us." 

Upon  this  occasion  I  shall  digress  a  little,  to  shew  with  what 
care  Cranmer  considered  so  weighty  a  point.  Among  his  other 
papers,  I  find  a  collection  of  a  great  many  places  out  of  the 
scripture,  concerning  justification  by  faith  7:>,  together  with  a 
vast  number  of  quotations  out  of  Origen,  Basil,  Jerome,  Theo- 
doret,  Ambrose,  Austin,  Prosper,  Chrysostom,  Gennadius,  Beda, 
Hesychius,  Theophylact,  and  (Ecumenius ;  together  with  many 
later  writers,  such  as  Anselm,  Bernard,  Peter  Lombard,  Hugo 
Cardinalis,  Lyranus,  and  Bruno ;  in  which  the  sense  of  those 
authors  in  this  point  did  appear ;  all  drawn  out  with  his  own 
hand.     To  this  is  added  another  collection  of  many  places  of 


75  [These  have  been  printed  from  Cranmer,'  vol.  ii.  p.  121,  and  by  the 

the  Stillingfleet  MSS.  in  Lambeth  Parker  society  in  the  '  Remains  and 

Library  1108,  fol.  58  sqq.,  by  Dr.  Letters,'  p.  203  sqq.] 
Jenkyns  in  the  '  Remains  of  Abp. 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  459 

the  fathers,  in  which  they  speak  of  the  merit  of  good  works  : 
and  at  the  end  of  the  whole  collection  he  writes  these  words ; 
"  This  proposition,  that  we  are76  justified  by  Christ  only,  and 
"  not  by  our  good  works,  is  a  very  true  and  necessary  doctrine 
"  of  St.  Paul's,  and  the  other  apostles",  taught  by  them  to  set 
"  forth  thereby  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  the  mercy  of  God 
"  through78  Christ."  And,  after  some  further  discourse  to  the 
same  purpose,  he  concludes,  "  Although  all  that  be  justified 
"  must  of  necessity  have  charity  as  well  as  faith ;  yet  neither 
"  faith  nor  charity  be  the  worthiness  nor79  merits  of  our  justi- 
"  fication  :  but  that  is  to  be  ascribed  only  to  our  Saviour  Christ, 
"  who s0  was  offered  upon  the  cross  for  our  sins,  and  rose  again 
"  for  our  justification."  This  I  set  down,  to  let  the  world  see 
that  Cranmer  was  not  at  all  concerned  in  those  niceties,  which 
have  been  so  much  inquired  into  since  that  time,  about  the 
instrumentality  of  faith  in  justification  ;  all  that  he  then  con- 
sidered being,  that  the  glory  of  it  might  be  ascribed  only  to 
the  death  and  intercession  of  Jesus  Christ. 

After  this  was  thus  laid  down,  there  followed  an  explanation  They  ex- 
of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  full  of  excellent  matters  ;  being  a  large  ^po^tW 
paraphrase  on  every  article  of  the  Creed,  with  such  serious  Creed, 
and  practical  inferences,  that  I  must  acknowledge,  after  all 
the  practical  books  we  have  had,  1  find  great  edification  in 
reading  that  over  and  over  again.    The  style  is  strong,  nervous, 
and  well  fitted  for  the  weakest  capacities.     There  is  nothing  in 
this  that  is  controverted  between  the  papists  and  the  reformers  ; 
except  the  definition  of  the  holy  catholic  church,  which  they 
give  thus :   That  It  comprehends  all  assemblies  of  men  over 
the  whole  world,  that  receive  the  faith  of  Christ ;  who  ought 
to  hold  an  unity  of  love,  and  brotherly  agreement  together,  by 
which  they  become  members  of  the  catholic  church.      Upon  [ibid.  p. 
which  a  long  excursion  is  made,  to  shew  the  injustice  and  un-  2471 
reasonableness  of  the  plea  of  the  church  of  Rome,  who  place 
the  unity  of  the  catholic  church  in  a  submission  to  the  bishop 
of  their  city,  without  any  ground  from  scripture,  or  the  ancient 
writers. 
289      From  that  they  proceeded  to  examine  the  seven  sacraments  ;  The  seven 
and  here  fell  in  stiff  debates,  which  remain  in  some  authentic  sac^)•" 

merits. 

76  [be]  77  [St.  Paul  and  other  the  apostles  and  prophets.] 

'»  fby]         7!»  [anil]         80  [which] 


460 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


maturity. 


writings,  that  give  a  great  light  to  their  proceedings.  The 
method  which  they  followed  was  this :  first,  the  whole  business 
they  were  to  consider  was  divided  into  so  many  heads,  which 
were  proposed  as  queries,  and  these  were  g'ven  out  to  so  many 
bishops  and  divines :  and,  at  a  prefixed  time,  every  one  brought 
With  great  his  opinion  in  writing  upon  all  the  queries.  So,  concerning 
the  seven  sacraments,  the  queries  were  given  out  to  the  two 
archbishops,  the  bishops  of  London,  Rochester,  and  Carlisle, 
(though  the  last  was  not  in  the  commission,)  and  to  the  bishops 
of  Durham,  Hereford,  and  St.  David's.  For  though  the  bishop 
of  Winchester  was  in  this  commission,  yet  he  did  nothing  in 
this  particular ;  but  I  imagine  that  he  was  gone  out  of  town, 
and  that  the  bishop  of  Carlisle  was  appointed  to  supply  his 
absence.  The  queries  were  also  given  to  doctor  Thirlby,  then 
bishop  elect  of  Westminster,  to  doctor  Robertson,  Day,  Red- 
mayn,  Cox,  Layton,  (though  not  in  the  commission,)  Symonds, 
Tresham,  Coren,  (though  not  in  the  commission,)  Edgeworth, 
Oglethorp,  Crayford,  AVilson,  and  Robins.  When  their  answers 
wTere  given  in,  two  were  appointed  to  compare  them,  and  draw 
an  extract  of  the  particulars  in  which  they  agreed  or  disagreed: 
which  the  one  did  in  Latin,  and  the  other  in  English  ;  only 
those  who  compared  them,  it  seems,  doing  it  for  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  took  no  notice  of  his  opinions  in  the  extract 
they  made.  And  of  these,  the  original  answers  of  the  two 
archbishops,  the  bishops  of  London,  Rochester,  and  Carlisle ; 
and  these  doctors,  Day,  Robertson,  Redmayn,  Cox,  Layton, 
Symonds,  Tresham,  Coren,  Edgeworth,  and  Oglethorp;  are 
yet  extant.  But  the  papers  given  in  by  the  bishops  of  Durham, 
Hereford,  and  St.  David's,  and  the  elect  of  Westminster,  and 
doctors  Crayford,  Wilson,  and  Robins,  though  they  are  men- 
tioned in  the  extracts  made  out  of  them,  yet  are  lost.  This 
the  reader  will  find  in  the  Collection:  which,  though  it  be 
somewhat  large,  yet  I  thought  such  pieces  were  of  too  great 
importance  not  to  be  communicated  to  the  world  ;  since  it  is 
perhaps  as  great  an  evidence  of  the  ripeness  of  their  proceed- 
ings as  can  be  shewed  in  any  church,  or  any  age  of  it.  And 
though  other  papers  of  this  sort  do  not  occur  in  this  king's 
reign  ;  yet  I  have  reason  to  conclude,  from  this  instance,  that 
they  proceeded  with  the  same  maturity  in  the  rest  of  their 
deliberations  :  in  which  I  am  the  more  confirmed,  because  I 


Collect. 
Numb.  21 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1540.)  461 

find  another  instance  like  this  in  the  reformation  that  was 
further  carried  on  in  the  succeeding  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth; 
of  many  bishops  and  divines  giving  in  their  opinions  under  their 
hands,  upon  some  heads  then  examined  and  changed.  In  Cran- 
mer's  paper,  some  singular  opinions  of  his  about  the  nature  of 
ecclesiastical  offices  will  be  found ;  but,  as  they  are  delivered 
by  him  with  all  possible  modesty,  so  they  were  not  established 
as  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  but  laid  aside  as  particular  con- 
ceits of  his  own.  And  it  seems,  that  afterwards  he  changed 
his  opinion  :  for  he  subscribed  the  book  that  was  soon  after  set 
out ;  which  is  directly  contrary  to  those  opinions  set  down  in 
these  papers.  Cranmer  was  for  reducing  these  sacraments  to 
two  :  but  the  popish  party  was  then  prevalent ;  so  the  whole 
number  of  seven  was  agreed  to. 
290  Baptism  was  explained  in  the  same  manner  that  had  been  [Formu- 
done  three  years  before,  in  the  articles  then  set  out :  only  the  Faitll 
matter  of  original  sin  was  more  enlarged  on.  P-  254-l 

Secondly,  Penance  was  formerly  placed  in  the  absolution  of 
the  priest ;  which  by  the  former  articles  was  only  declared  a 
thing  desirable,  and  not  to  be  contemned,  if  it  might  be  had  ; 
yet  all  merit  of  good  works  was  rejected,  though  they  were  [Ibid.  p. 
declared  necessary  ;  and  sinners  were  taught  to  depend  wholly 
on  the  sufferings  of  Christ ;  with  other  good  directions  about 
repentance. 

Thirdly,  In  the  explanation  of  the  eucharist,  transubstantia-  [Ibid.  p. 
tion  was  fully  asserted :  as  also  the  concomitancy  of  the  blood 
with  the  flesh  ;  so  that  communion  in  both  kinds  was  not  ne- 
cessary.    The  use  of  hearing  mass,  though  one  did  not  com-  [Ibid.  p. 
municate,  was  also  asserted.     To  which  were  added,  very  good  2    '■' 
rules  about  the  disposition  of  mind  that  ought  to  accompany 
this  sacrament. 

Fourthly,  Matrimony  was  said  to  bo  instituted  of  God,  and 
sanctified  by  Christ :  the   degrees  in  the  Mosaical  law  were  [Ibid.  p. 
declared  obligatory,  and  none  else  :    and  the  bond  of  marriage  r/bVd.  p. 
was  declared  not  separable  on  any  account,  273-l 

Fifthly,  Orders  were  to  be  administered  in  the  church,  ac- 
cording to  the  New  Testament :  but  the  particular  forms  of 
nominating,   electing,   presenting,   or  appointing  ecclesiastical 
ministers,  was  left  to  the  laws  of  every  country,  to  be  made  [Ibid.  p. 
by  the  assent  of  the  prince.     The  office  of  churchmen  was  to  2?  '* 


4(&  THE    HISTORY    OF  [paut  i. 

preach,  administer  the  sacraments,  to  bind  and  loose,  and  to 
pray  for  the  whole  flock  :  but  they  must  execute  these  with 
such  limitation  as  was  allowed  by  the  laws  of  every  kingdom. 
The  scripture,  they  said,  made  express  mention  only  of  the 
two  orders  of  priests  and  deacons.  To  these  the  primitive 
church  had  added  some  inferior  degrees,  which  were  also  not 
to  be  contemned.  But  no  bishop  had  any  authority  over  other 
[Ibid.  p.  bishops  by  the  law  of  God.  Upon  which  followed  a  long  di- 
gression, confuting  the  pretensions  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  ; 
with  an  explanation  of  the  king's  authority  in  ecclesiastical 
matters  ;  which  was  beforehand  set  down  in  another  place,  to 
shew  what  they  understood  by  the  king's  being  supreme  head 
of  the  church. 

Sixthly,  Confirmation   was  said  to  have  been  used  in  the 

primitive  church,  in  imitation  of  the  apostles ;  who,  by  laying 

on  their  hands,  conferred  the  Holy  Ghost  in  an  extraordinary 

[Ibid.  p.      manner :  and  therefore  was  of  great  advantage,  but  not  ne- 

29°'J  cessary  to  salvation. 

Seventhly,  Extreme  unction  was  said  to  have  been  derived 
from  the  practice  of  the  apostles,  mentioned  by  St.  James,  for 
[Ibid.  p.      the  health  both  of  body  and  soul :  and  though  the  sick  person 
291  "J  was  not  always  recovered  of  his  bodily  sickness  by  it,  yet  re- 

mission of  sins  was  obtained  by  it ;  and  that  which  God  knew 
to  be  best  for  our  bodily  condition,  to  whose  will  we  ought 
[Ibid.  p.      always  to   submit.     But  this  sacrament  was  only  fruitful  to 
?93-l  those  who  by  penance  were  restored  to  the  state  of  grace. 

The  Ten  Then  followed  an  explanation  of  the  Ten  Commandments, 

meats'  wni°n  contains  many  good  rules  of  morality,  drawn  from  every 
one  of  them.  The  second  Commandment  Gardiner  had  a  mind 
to  have  shortened,  and  to  cast  into  the  first.  Cranmer  was 
for  setting  it  down  as  it  was  in  the  law  of  Moses.  But  a  201 
temper  was  found  :  it  was  placed  as  a  distinct  commandment, 
[Ibid.  p.  but  not  at  full  length  ;  the  words,  For  I  the  Lord  thy  God, 
299d  &c.  being  left  out,  and  only  those  that  go  before  being  set 

down.  In  the  explanation  of  this  Commandment,  images  were 
said  to  be  profitable  for  putting  us  in  mind  of  the  great  bless- 
ings we  have  received  by  our  Saviour,  and  of  the  virtues  and 
holiness  of  the  saints,  by  which  we  were  to  be  stirred  up  to 
imitate  them :  so  that  they  were  not  to  be  despised,  though  we 
be  forbidden  to  do  any  godly  honour  to  them.     And  therefore 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1.540.)  463 

the  superstition  of  preferring  one  image  to  another,  as  if  they 
had  any  special  virtue  in  them,  or  the  adorning  them  richly, 
and  making  vows  and  pilgrimages  to  them,  is  condemned  ; 
yet  the  censing  of  images,  and  kneeling  before  them,  are  not 
condemned  :  but  the  people  must  be  taught,  that  these  things 
Avere  not  to  be  done  to  the  image  itself,  but  to  God  and  his 
honour.  To  the  third  Commandment,  they  reduced  the  invo- 
cation of  God's  name  for  his  gifts  :  and  they  condemned  the  [Ibid  p. 
invocation  of  saints,  when  such  things  were  prayed  for  from  30:"J 
them,  which  were  only  given  by  God.  This  was  the  giving 
his  glory  to  creatures ;  yet  to  pray  to  saints  as  intercessors  is 
declared  lawful,  and  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  catholic 
church.  Upon  the  fourth  Commandment,  a  rest  from  labour  [Ibid.  p. 
every  seventh  day  is  said  to  be  ceremonial,  and  such  as  only  3° 
obliged  Jews  ;  but  the  spiritual  signification  of  rest  among 
Christians  was,  to  abstain  from  sin,  and  other  carnal  pleasures. 
But,  besides  that,  we  were  also  bound  by  this  precept  sometimes 
to  cease  from  labour,  that  we  may  serve  and  worship  God  both 
in  public  and  private:  and  that,  on  the  days  appointed  for  this 
purpose,  people  ought  to  examine  their  lives  the  past  week, 
and  set  to  amendment,  and  give  themselves  to  prayer,  reading, 
and  meditation.  Yet  in  cases  of  necessity,  such  as  saving  their 
corn  or  cattle,  men  ought  not  superstitiously  to  think  that  it  is 
a  sin  to  work  on  that  day,  but  to  do  their  work  without  scruple. 
Then  follow  very  profitable  expositions  of  the  other  Command- 
ments, with  many  grave  and  weighty  admonitions  concerning 
the  duties  by  them  enjoined,  and  against  those  sins  which  are 
too  common  in  all  ages. 

After  that,  an  explanation  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  added.  The  Lord's 
In  the  preface  to  which  it  is  said,  that  it  is  meet  and  requisite  rjbid.  p. 
that  the  unlearned  people  should  make  their  prayers  in  their  335-1 
mother-tongue  ;  whereby  they  may  be  the  more  stirred  to  de- 
votion, and  to  mind  the  things  they  prayed  for.   Then  followed  The  Ave 
an  exposition  of  the  angel's  salutation  of  the  blessed  Virgin  :  rj^™' 
in  which  the  whole  history  of  the  incarnation  of  Christ  was  354-1 
opened,  and  the  Ave  Maria  explained  ;  which  hymn  was  chiefly 
to  be  used  in  commemoration  of  Christ's  incarnation,  and  like- 
wise to  set  forth  the  praises  of  the  blessed  Virgin.     The  next 
article  is  about  free-will,  which  they  say  must  be  in  man  ;  Free-will, 
otherwise  all  precepts  and  exhortations   are  to  no   purpose. 


464  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

[Ibid.  p.  They  defined  it,  a  power  of  the  will,  joined  with  reason, 
whereby  a  reasonable  creature,  without  constraint,  in  things 
of  reason,  discemeth  and  ivilleth  good  and  evil;  but  chooseth 
good  by  the  assistance  of  God's  grace,  and  evil  of  itself  This 
was  perfect  in  the  state  of  innocency,  bnt  is  much  impaired  by 
Adam's  fall ;  and  now,  by  an  especial  grace,  (offered  to  all 
men,  but  enjoyed  only  by  those  who  by  their  free-will  do  accept 
the  same,)  it  was  restored,  that  with  great  watchfulness  we  may  292 
serve  God  acceptably.  And  as  many  places  of  scripture  shew 
that  free-will  is  still  in  man,  so  there  be  many  others  which 
shew  that  the  grace  of  God  is  necessary,  that  doth  both  prevent 
us  and  assist  us  both  to  begin  and  perform  every  good  work. 
Therefore  all  men  ought  most  gratefully  to  receive  and  follow 
the  motions  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  beg  God's  grace  with 
earnest  devotion,  and  a  stedfast  faith ;  which  he  will  grant  to 
all  that  so  ask  it,  both  because  he  is  naturally  good,  and  he 
has  promised  to  grant  our  desires.  For  he  is  not  the  author 
of  sin,  nor  the  cause  of  man's  damnation  ;  but  this  men  draw 
on  themselves,  who  by  vice  have  corrupted  those  natures  which 
God  made  good.  Therefore  all  preachers  were  warned  so  to 
moderate  themselves  in  this  high  point,  that  they  neither  should 
so  preach  the  grace  of  God,  as  to  take  away  free-will ;  nor  so 
extol  free-will,  as  injury  might  bo  done  to  the  grace  of  God. 

Jushfica-         After  this,  they  handled  justification.      Having   stated  the 

tion. 

[Ibid.  p.      miseries  of  man  by  nature,  and  the  guilt  of  sin,  with  the  un- 
3  3-J  speakable  goodness  of  God  in  sending  Christ  to  redeem  us  by 

his  death,  who  was  the  mediator  between  God  and  man  ;  they 
next  shew  how  men  are  made  partakers  of  the  blessings  which 
he  hath  procured.  Justification  is  the  making  of  us  righteous 
before  God,  whereby  we  are  reconciled  to  him,  and  made  heirs 
of  eternal  life  :  that  by  his  grace  we  may  walk  in  his  ways, 
and  be  reputed  just  and  righteous  in  the  day  of  judgment,  and 
so  attain  everlasting  happiness.  God  is  the  chief  cause  of  our 
justification  :  yet  man,  prevented  by  grace,  is  by  his  free  con- 
sent and  obedience  a  worker  toward  the  attaining  his  own  jus- 
tification. For  though  it  is  only  procured  through  the  merits 
of  Christ's  death,  yet  every  one  must  do  many  things  to  attain 
a  right  and  claim  to  that,  which,  though  it  was  offered  to  all, 
yet  was  applied  but  to  a  few.  We  must  have  a  stedfast  faith, 
true  repentance,  real  purposes  of  amendment  ;  committing  sin 


book  in.]  THE    REFORMATION.     (1540.)  465 

no  more,  but  serving  God  all  our  lives ;  which  if  we  fall  from, 
we  must  recover  it  by  penance,  fasting,  alms,  prayer,  with 
other  good  works,  and  a  firm  faith,  going  forward  in  mortifica- 
tion and  obedience  to  the  laws  of  God  ;  it  being  certain  that 
men  might  fall  away  from  their  justification.  All  curious  rea- 
sonings about  predestination  were  to  be  set  apart ;  there  being 
no  certainty  to  be  had  of  our  election,  but  by  feeling  the  motions 
of  God's  Spirit  in  us,  by  a  good  and  virtuous  life,  and  per- 
severing in  it  to  the  end.  Therefore  it  was  to  be  taught,  that 
as  on  the  one  hand  we  are  to  be  justified  freely  by  the  free 
grace  of  God ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  when  it  is  said,  we  are 
justified  by  faith,  it  must  be  understood  of  such  a  faith,  in 
which  the  fear  of  God,  repentance,  hope,  and  charity,  be  in- 
cluded ;  all  which  must  be  joined  together  in  our  justification  : 
and  though  these  be  imperfect,  yet  God  accepteth  of  them 
freely  through  Christ. 

Next,  good  works  were  explained,  which  were  said  to  be  Good 
absolutely  necessary  to  salvation.      But  these  were  not  only         ' ' 
outward  corporal  works,  but  inward  spiritual  works  ;    as  the  369.] 
love  and  fear  of  God,  patience,  humility,  and  the  like.     Nor 
were  they  superstitions  and  men's  inventions,  such  as  those  in 
which  monks  and  friars  exercised  themselves  ;  nor  only  moral 
293  works,  done  by  the  power  of  natural  reason  ;  but  the  works 
of  charity,  flowing  from  a  pure  heart,  a  good  conscience,  and 
faith  unfeigned,  which  were  meritorious  towards  the  attaining 
of  everlasting  life.    Other  works  were  of  an  inferior  sort ;  such  [Ibid.  p. 
as  fasting,  almsdeeds,  and  other  fruits  of  penance.     And  the  37 
merit  of  good  works  is  reconciled  with  the  freedom  of  God's 
mercies  to  us,  since  all  our  works  are  done  by  his  grace ;  so 
that  we  have  no  cause  of  boasting,  but  must  ascribe  all  to  the 
grace  and  goodness  of  God.    The  last  chapter  is  about  prayers  [ibid.  p. 
for  souls  departed,  which  is  the  same  that  was  formerly  set  ^^^ 
out  in  the  articles  three  years  before. 

And  this  was  finished  and  set  forth  this  year81,  with  a  pre-  All  this  set 
face  written  by  those  of  the  clergy  who  had  been  employed  in  b°cjo]*  "'^ 
it ;  declaring  with  what  care  they  had  examined  the  scriptures,  published 

81  [The  'Necessary  Erudition' did  Latin  translation  published  in  1544, 

not  appear  till  1543,  in  which  year  under  the  title,    '  Pia   et   Catholica 

it  was  printed,  and  again  in  1545,  Christianihominislnstitutio.'  Again, 

in  8vo.  and  4to.     There  was  a  free  there  was  no  preface  written  by  the 

BURNET,  PART  I.  .       H  h 


466 


THE   HISTORY   OF 


[part  I. 


by  the 
king's 
authority. 

[Ibid.  p. 
2I5-] 


[Ibid.  p. 
217.] 


[Ibid.  p. 
219.] 


It  is  vari- 
ously cen- 
sured. 


and  the  ancient  doctors,  out  of  whom  they  had  faithfully 
gathered  this  exposition  of  the  Christian  faith.  To  this  the 
king  added  another  preface  some  years  after,  declaring,  that 
although  he  had  cast  out  the  darkness,  by  setting  forth  the 
scriptures  to  his  people,  which  had  produced  very  good  effects; 
yet,  as  hypocrisy  and  superstition  were  purged  away,  so  a  spirit 
of  presumption,  dissension,  and  carnal  liberty  was  breaking 
in.  For  repressing  which,  he  had,  by  the  advice  of  his  clergy, 
set  forth  a  declaration  of  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  for  direct- 
ing all  men's  belief  and  practice  ;  which  both  houses  of  parlia- 
ment had  seen,  and  liked  very  well.  So  that  he  verily  trusted 
it  contained  a  true  and  sufficient  doctrine,  for  the  attaining 
everlasting  life.  Therefore  he  required  all  his  people  to  read, 
and  print  in  their  hearts,  the  doctrine  of  this  book.  He  also 
willed  them  to  remember,  that  as  there  were  some  teachers, 
whose  office  it  was  to  instruct  the  people  ;  so  the  rest  ought  to 
be  taught,  and  to  those  it  was  not  necessary  to  read  the  scrip- 
tures :  and  that  therefore  he  had  restrained  it  from  a  great 
many,  esteeming  it  sufficient  for  such  to  hear  the  doctrine  of 
the  scriptures  taught  by  their  preachers,  which  they  should 
lay  up  in  their  hearts,  and  practise  in  their  lives.  Lastly,  he 
desired  all  his  subjects  to  pray  to  God  to  grant  them  the  spirit 
of  humility,  that  they  might  read  and  carry  in  their  hearts 
the  doctrine  set  forth  in  this  book.  But  though  I  have  joined 
the  account  of  this  preface  to  the  extract  here  made  of  the 
Bishops'  Book,  yet  it  was  not  prefixed  to  it  till  above  two 
years  after  the  other  was  set  out. 

When  this  was  published,  both  parties  found  cause  in  it  both 
to  be  glad  and  sorrowful.  The  reformers  rejoiced  to  see  the 
doctrine  of  the  gospel  thus  opened  more  and  more ;  for  they 
concluded,  that  ignorance  and  prejudices,  being  the  chief  sup- 
ports of  the  errors  they  complained  of,  the  instructing  people 
in  divine  matters,  even  though  some  particulars  displeased 
them,  yet  would  awaken  and  work  upon  an  inquisitive  humour 
that  was  then  a  stirring ;  and  they  did  not  doubt  but  their 
doctrines  were  so  clear,  that  inquiries  into  religion  would  do 


clergy  to  this  which  was  called  '  the 
King's  Book.'  Their  preface  was 
prefixed  to  the  Bishops'  Book,  '  The 
Institution  of  a  Christian  man,'  which 


was  published  in  1537.  See  the  pre- 
face to  the  '  Formularies  of  Faith,' 
Oxford,  1 825,  and  Laurence's  Bamp- 
ton  Lectures,  p.  190.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  467 

their  business.  They  were  also  glad  to  see  the  morals  of 
Christianity  so  well  cleared,  which  they  hoped  would  dispose 
people  to  a  better  taste  of  divine  matters ;  since  they  had 
observed,  that  purity  of  soul  does  mightily  prepare  people  for 
sound  opinions.  Most  of  the  superstitious  conceits  and  prac- 
294  tices,  which  had  for  some  ages  embased  the  Christian  faith, 
were  now  removed  ;  and  the  great  fundamental  of  Christianity, 
the  covenant  between  God  and  man  in  Christ,  with  the  con- 
ditions of  it,  was  plainly  and  sincerely  declared.  There  was 
also  another  principle  laid  down,  that  was  big  with  a  further 
reformation ;  for  every  national  church  was  declared  a  com- 
plete body  within  itself,  with  power  to  reform  heresies,  correct 
abuses,  and  do  every  thing  else  that  was  necessary  for  keeping 
itself  pure,  or  governing  its  members  :  by  which  there  was  a 
fair  way  opened  for  a  full  discussion  of  things  afterwards,  when 
a  fitter  opportunity  should  be  offered.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  popish  party  thought  they  had  gained  much.  The 
seven  sacraments  were  again  asserted,  so  that  here  much 
ground  was  recovered,  and  they  hoped  more  would  follow. 
There  were  many  things  laid  down,  to  which  they  knew  the 
reformers  would  never  consent :  so  that  they,  who  were  re- 
solved to  comply  with  every  thing  that  the  king  had  a  mind 
to,  were  pretty  safe.  But  the  others,  who  followed  their  per- 
suasions and  consciences,  were  brought  into  many  snares ;  and 
the  popish  party  was  confident  that  their  absolute  compliance 
which  was  joined  with  all  possible  submission  and  flattery, 
would  gain  the  king  at  length  :  and  the  stiffness  of  others, 
who  would  not  give  that  deference  to  the  king's  judgment  and 
pleasure,  would  so  alienate  him  from  them,  that  he  would  in 
the  end  abandon  them ;  for,  with  the  king's  years,  his  uneasi- 
ness and  peevishness  grew  mightily  on  him. 

The  dissolution  of  the  king's  marriage  with  Anne  of  Cleves 
had  so  offended  the  princes  of  Germany,  that  though,  upon 
the  lady's  account,  they  made  no  public  noise  of  it ;  yet  there 
was  little  more  intercourse  between  the  king  and  them,  espe- 
cially Cromwell  falling,  that  had  always  carried  on  the  corre- 
spondence with  them.  And,  as  this  intercourse  went  off,  so  a 
secret  treaty  was  set  on  foot  between  the  king  and  the  em- 
peror ;  yet  it  came  not  to  a  conclusion  till  two  years  after. 

The  other  bishops,  that  were  appointed  to  examine  the  rites 

Hh  2 


468  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Corrections  and  ceremonies  of  the  church,  drew  up  a  rubric  and  rationale 
boolT'and8  °^  *nem  5  which  I  do  not  find  was  printed  :  but  a  very  authen- 
other  tical  MS.  of  a  great  part  of  it  is  extant.     The  alterations  they 

offices  • 

Ex  MSS.  made  were  inconsiderable,  and  so  slight,  that  there  was  no 
D.  D.  stil-  need  of  reprinting  either  the  missals,  breviaries,  or  other 
offices ;  for  a  few  razures  of  these  collects,  in  which  the  pope 
was  prayed  for,  of  Thomas  Becket's  office,  and  the  offices  of 
other  saints,  whose  days  were  by  the  king's  injunctions  no 
more  to  be  observed,  with  some  other  deletions,  made  that  the 
old  books  did  still  serve.  For  whether  it  was,  that  the  change 
of  the  mass-books,  and  other  public  offices,  would  have  been 
too  great  a  charge  to  the  nation ;  or  whether  they  thought  it 
would  have  possessed  the  people  with  an  opinion  that  the  re- 
ligion was  altered,  since  the  books  of  the  ancient  worship  were 
changed ;  which  remaining  the  same,  they  might  be  the  more 
easily  persuaded  that  the  religion  was  still  the  same :  there 
was  no  new  impression  of  the  breviaries,  missals,  and  other 
rituals,  during  this  king's  reign.  Yet  in  queen  Mary's  time 
they  took  care  that  posterity  should  not  know  how  much  was 
dashed  out  or  changed :  for,  as  all  parishes  were  required  tc 
furnish  themselves  with  new  complete  books  of  the  offices  ;  so  295 
the  dashed  books  were  everywhere  brought  in,  and  destroyed. 
But  it  is  likely  that  most  of  those  scandalous  hymns  and 
prayers,  which  are  addressed  to  saints  in  the  same  style  in 
which  good  Christians  worship  God,  were  all  struck  out ;  be- 
cause they  were  now  condemned,  as  appears  from  the  extract 
of  the  other  book,  set  out  by  the  bishops. 
A  persecu-  But,  as  they  went  on  in  these  things,  the  popish  party, 
testantsPr°  whose  counsels  were  laid  very  close,  and  managed  with  great 
[Fox,  vol.  dexterity,  chiefly  by  the  duke  of  Norfolk  and  Gardiner,  pur- 
sued the  ruin  of  those  whom  they  called  heretics :  knowing 
well,  that  if  the  king  was  once  set  against  them,  and  they  pro- 
voked against  the  government,  he  would  be  not  only  alienated 
from  them,  but  forced,  for  securing  himself  against  them,  to 
gain  the  hearts  of  his  other  subjects  by  a  conjunction  with  the 
emperor,  and  by  his  means  with  the  pope.  The  first  on  whom 
this  design  took  effect  were  doctor  Barnes,  Mr.  Gerrard,  and 
Mr.  Jerome,  all  priests ;  who  had  been  among  the  earliest 
Of  Barnes  converts  to  Luther's  doctrine.  Barnes  had,  in  a  sermon  at 
and  others :  Cambridge  during  the  cardinal's  greatness,  reflected  on  the 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  469 

pomp  and  state  in  which  he  lived,  so  plainly  that  every  body 
understood  of  whom  he  meant.     So  he  was  carried  up  to  Lon-  [ibid.  p. 
don ;  but,  by  the  interposition  of  Gardiner  and  Fox,  who  were  4 
his  friends,  he  was  saved  at  that  time,  having  abjured  some 
opinions  that  were  objected  to  him.     But  other  accusations 
being  afterwards  brought  against  him,  he  was  again  impri- 
soned, and  it  was  believed  that  he  would  have  been  burnt. 
But  he  made  his  escape,  and  went  to  Germany,  where  he  gave 
himself  to  the  study  of  the  scriptures  and  divinity  :  in  which 
he  became  so  considerable,  that  not  only  the  German  divines, 
but  their  princes,  took  great  notice  of  him  ;  and  the  king  of 
Denmark  sending  over  ambassadors  to  the  king,  he  was  sent 
with  them  :    though   perhaps  Fox  was  ill  informed  when  he  [Ibid.  p. 
says  he  was  one  of  them.     Fox,  bishop  of  Hereford,  being  at  43/-J 
Smalcald  in  the  year  1536,  sent  him  over  to  England,  where 
he  was  received  and  kindly  entertained  by  Cromwell,  and  well 
used  by  the  king.     And  by  his  means  the  correspondence  with 
the  Germans  was  chiefly  kept  up :  for  he  was  often  sent  over 
to  the  courts  of  the  several  princes.    But,  in  particular,  he  had 
the  misfortune  to  be  first  employed  in  the  project  of  the  king's 
marriage  with  the  lady  Anne  of  Cleves :  for  that  giving  the 
king  so  little  satisfaction,  all  who  were  the  main  promoters  of 
it  fell  in  disgrace  upon  it. 

But  other  things  concurred  to  destroy  Barnes.     In  Lent 
this  year,  Bonner  had  appointed  him,  and  Gerrard,  and  Je- 
rome, turns  in  the  course  of  sermons  at  St.  Paul's  Cross ;  they 
being  in  favour  with  Cromwell,  on  whom  Bonner  depended 
wholly.      But  Gardiner  sent  Bonner  word,  that  he  intended 
himself  to  preach  on  Sunday  at  St.  Paul's  Cross:  and  in  his  [Feb.  14.]' 
sermon  he  treated  of  justification,  and  other  points,  with  many 
reflections  on  the  Lutherans.     Barnes,  when  it  came  to   his  [Feb.  28.] 
turn,  made  use  of  the  same  text,  but  preached  contrary  doc- 
trine ;  not  without  some  unhandsome  reflections  on  Gardiner's  [Fox,  vol. 
person :  and  he  played  on  his  name,  alluding  to  a  gardener's  u"  p'  442*' 
setting  ill  plants  in  a  garden.     The  other  two  preached  the 
same  doctrine,  but  made  no  reflections  on  any  person.     Gar- 
296  diner  seemed  to  bear  it  with  a  great  appearance  of  neglect  and 
indifferency  :  but  his  friends  complained  to  the  king  of  the  in- 
sufferable insolencies  of  these  preachers,  who  did  not  spare  so 


470  THE  HISTORY  OF  [paut  i. 

great  a  prelate,  especially  he  being  a  privy  counsellor8'2.  So 
Barnes  was  questioned  for  it,  and  commanded  to  go  and  give 
the  bishop  of  Winchester  satisfaction.  And  the  bishop  carried 
the  matter  with  a  great  show  of  moderation,  and  acted  out- 
wardly in  it  as  became  his  function :  though  it  was  believed 
the  matter  stuck  deeper  in  his  heart;  which  the  effects  that 
followed  seemed  to  demonstrate.  The  king  concerned  himself 
in  the  matter,  and  did  argue  with  Barnes  about  the  points  in 
difference.  But  whether  he  was  truly  convinced,  or  overcome 
rather  with  the  fear  of  the  king  than  with  the  force  of  his 
reasonings,  he,  and  his  two  friends,  William  Jerome  and 
Thomas  Gerrard,  signed  a  paper  (which  will  be  found  in  the 
Collect.  Collection)  in  which  he  acknowledged,  "  That,  having  been 
"  brought  before  the  king  for  things  preached  by  him,  his 
"  highness,  being  assisted  by  some  of  the  clergy,  had  so  dis- 
"  puted  with  him,  that  he  was  convinced  of  his  rashness  and 
"  oversight ;  and  promised  to  abstain  from  such  indiscretions 
"  for  the  future,  and  to  submit  to  any  orders  the  king  should 
"  give  for  what  was  past." 

The  articles  were,  "  First,  That,  though  we  are  redeemed 
"  only  by  the  death  of  Christ,  in  which  we  participate  by  faith 
"  and  baptism ;  yet,  by  not  following  the  commandments  of 
"  Christ,  we  lose  the  benefits  of  it,  which  we  cannot  recover 
"  but  by  penance. 

"  Secondly,  That  God  is  not  the  author  of  sin,  or  evil,  which 
"  he  only  permits. 

"  Thirdly,  That  we  ought  to  reconcile  ourselves  to  our 
"neighbours,  and  forgive,' before  we  can  be  forgiven. 

"  Fourthly,  That  good  works,  done  sincerely  according  to 
the  scriptures,  are  profitable  and  helpful  to  salvation. 

"  Fifthly,  That  laws  made  by  Christian  rulers  ought  to  be 
"  obeyed  by  their  subjects  for  conscience  sake  :  and  that  who- 
"  soever  breaks  them  breaks  God's  commandments." 

It  is  not  likely  that  Barnes  could  say  any  thing  directly 

8a  Gardiner  in  his  Declaration  of  council.'      He  seems   not   to   have 

such  true  Articles,  <?)-c.  printed  an.  heen  much  employed  at  this  time, 

1,546,   8vo.,    says,    he    complained  having  been  left  out  of  the  number 

himself  to  the  king;  and  expressly  of  those  that  compiled  'the  King's 

says,  'when  Barnes  was  sent  to  the  Book,'  or  nol  acting.  [B.] 
Tower,    I    was    not   of    the    privy 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1540.)  471 

contrary  to  these  articles;  though,  having  brought  much  of 
Luther's  heat  over  with  him,  he  might  have  said  some  things 
that  sounded  ill  upon  these  heads.  There  were  other  points 
in  difference  between  Gardiner  and  him  about  justification  : 
but  it  seems  the  king  thought  these  were  of  so  subtle  a  nature, 
that  no  article  of  faith  was  controverted  in  them ;  and  there- 
fore left  the  bishop  and  him  to  agree  these  among  themselves, 
which  they  in  a  great  measure  did.  So  the  king  commanded 
Barnes  and  his  friends  to  preach  at  the  Spittle  in  the  Easter- 
week,  and  openly  to  recant  what  they  had  formerly  said.  And 
Barnes  was  in  particular  to  ask  the  bishop  of  Winchester's 
pardon,  which  he  did ;  and  Gardiner,  being  twice  desired  by 
him  to  give  some  sign  that  he  forgave  him,  did  lift  up  his 
finger.  But  in  their  sermons,  it  was  said,  they  justified  in  one 
part  what  they  recanted  in  another.  Of  which,  complaints 
being  brought  to  the  king,  he,  without  hearing  them,  sent 
them  all  to  the  Tower.  And  Cromwell's  interest  at  court  was 
then  declining  so  fast,  that  either  he  could  not  protect  them, 
or  else  would  not  prejudice  himself  by  interposing  in  a  matter 
297  which  gave  the  king  so  great  offence.  They  lay  in  the  Tower  Who  were 
till  the  parliament  met ;  and  then  they  were  attainted  of  5^°^. 
heresy,  without  ever  being  brought  to  make  their  answer,  ment. 
And  it  seems,  for  the  extraordinariness  of  the  thing,  they  re- 
solved to  mix  attainders  for  things  that  were  very  different 
from  one  another.  For  four  others  were  by  the  same  act  [Cap.  60. 
attainted  of  treason  ;  who  were,  Gregory  Butolph,  Adam  r°g^ ™ e 
Damplipp,  Edmund  Brindholme,  and  Clement  Philpot,  for  as-  tutes.] 
sisting  Reginald  Pole,  adhering  to  the  bishop  of  Rome,  deny- 
ing the  king  to  be  the  supreme  head  on  earth  of  the  church  of 
England,  and  designing  to  surprise  the  town  of  Calais.  One 
Derby  Gunnyng  was  also  attainted  of  treason,  for  assisting  one 
Fitz-Gerald,  a  traitor  in  Ireland.  And,  after  all  these,  Barnes, 
Gerrard,  and  Jerome  are  attainted  of  heresy ;  being,  as  the 
act  says,  "  detestable  heretics,  who  had  conspired  together  to 
"  set  forth  many  heresies ;  and,  taking  themselves  to  be  men 
"  of  learning,  had  expounded  the  scriptures,  perverting  them 
"  to  their  heresies,  the  number  of  which  was  too  long  to  be 
"  repeated  :  that,  having  formerly  abjured,  they  were  now  in- 
"  corrigible  heretics  ;  and  so  were  condemned  to  be  burnt,  or 
"  suffer  any  other  death,  as  should  please  the  king."     And 


m  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  t. 

two  days  after  Cromwell's  death,  being  the  thirtieth  of  July, 

they  were  brought  to  Smithfield,  where    in    their  execution 

there  was  as  odd  a  mixture  as  had  been  in  their  attainders. 

For  Abel,   Fetherston,  and   Powell,  that   were   attainted    by 

[Cap.  59.     another  act  of  the  same  parliament  for  owning  the  pope's 

in°sta-in  6t  supremacy,  and  denying  the  king's,  were  carried  to  the  place 

tutes.]        of  execution,  and  coupled  with  the  other  three  :  so  that  one  of 

each  was  put  into  a  hurdle,  and  carried  together ;  which  every 

body  condemned  as  an  extravagant  affectation  of  the  show  of 

impartial  justice. 

Their  AVhen  they  were  brought  to  the  stake,  Barnes  spake  thus 

thTsteke!1* to  tne  PeoPlc  :  "  Since  he  was  to  be  burnt  as  an  heretic,  he 

[Fox,  vol.    "  would  declare  what  opinions  he  held.     So  he  enlarged  on  all 

"'  p"  44       "  the  articles  of  the  Creed,  to  shew  he  believed  them  all.     He 

"  expressed  a  particular  abhorrence  of  an  opinion  which  some 

"  anabaptists  held,  that  the  blessed  Virgin  was  as  a  saffron 

"  Dag  5  (°y  which  indecent  simile  they  meant,  that  our  Saviour 

"  took   no  substance  of  her.)     He   explained  his  opinion   of 

"  good  works  :    that  they  must  of  necessity  be  done,   since 

"  without  them  none  should  ever  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 

"  God.     They  were  commanded  of  God,  to   shew  forth  our 

"  profession  by  them  :  but  he  believed,  as  they  wrere  not  pure 

"  nor  perfect,  so  they  did  not  avail  to  our  justification,  nor 

"  merit  any  thing  at  the  hands  of  God :  for  that  was  to  be 

"  ascribed  to  the  merits  of  the  death  and  passion  of  Christ.    He 

"  professed  great  reverence  to  the  blessed  Virgin  and  saints  : 

'.'  but  said,  he  saw  no  warrant  in  scriptures  for   praying  to 

"  them  :    nor  was  it  certain  whether  they  prayed  for   us,  or 

"  not ;  but  if  the  saints  did  pray  for  those  on  earth,  he  trusted, 

"  within  half  an  hour,  to  be  praying  for  them  all."     Then  he 

asked  the  sheriff  if  he  had  any  articles  against  them,  for  which 

they  were  condemned :    who    answered,  he   had  none.      He 

next  asked  the  people,  if  they  knew  wherefore  he  died,  or  if 

they  had  been  led  into  any  errors  by  his  preaching  ;  but  none 

made  answer.     Then  he  said,  he  heard  he  was  condemned  to 

die  by  an  act  of  parliament ;  and  it  seemed  it  was  for  heresy, 

since  they  were  to  be  burnt.     He  prayed  God  to  forgive  those  298 

who  had  been  the  occasions  of  it :  and  in  particular  for  the 

bishop  of  Winchester,  if  he  had  sought  or  procured  his  death, 

he  prayed  God  heartily  to  forgive  him,  as  Christ  forgave  his 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1540.)  47i3 

murderers.  He  prayed  earnestly  for  the  king,  and  the  prince  ; 
and  exhorted  the  people  to  pray  for  them.  He  said,  some 
had  reported  that  he  had  been  a  preacher  of  sedition  and  dis- 
«.  obedience  :  but .  he  declared  to  the  people,  that  they  were 
bound  by  the  law  of  God  to  obey  their  king's  laws  with  all 
humility,  not  only  for  fear,  but  for  conscience ;  adding,  that  if 
the  king  commanded  any  thing  against  God's  law,  though  it 
were  in  their  power  to  resist  him,  yet  they  might  not  do  it. 
Then  he  desired  the  sheriff  to  carry  five  requests  from  him  to 
the  king. 

"  First,  That,  since  he  had  taken  the  abbey-lands  into  his 
"  hands,  for  which  he  did  not  blame  him,  (as  the  sheriff  fancied 
"  he  was  about  to  do,  and  thereupon  stopped  him,)  but  was 
"  glad  that  superstition  was  taken  away,  and  that  the  king 
"  was  then  a  complete  king,  obeyed  by  all  his  subjects ;  which 
"  had  been  done  through  the  preaching  of  them,  and  such 
"  wretches  as  they  were ;  yet  he  wished  the  king  would  bestow 
"  these  goods,  or  some  of  them,  to  the  comfort  of  his  poor 
"  subjects,  who  had  great  need  of  them. 

"  Secondly,  That  marriage  might  be  had  in  greater  esteem, 
"  and  that  men  might  not  upon  light  pretences  cast  off  their 
"  wives ;  and  that  those  who  were  unmarried  might  not  be 
"  suffered  to  live  in  whoredom. 

"  Thirdly,  That  abominable  swearers  might  be  punished. 

"  Fourthly,  That,  since  the  king  had  begun  to  set  forth 
"  Christian  religion,  he  would  go  forward  in  it,  and  make  an 
"  end  ;  for  though  he  had  done  a  great  deal,  yet  many  things 
"  remained  to  be  done  :  and  he  wished  that  the  king  might  not 
"  be  deceived  with  false  teachers." 

The  fifth  desire,  he  said,  he  had  forgot. 

Then  he  begged  that  they  all  would  forgive  him,  if  at  any 
time  he  had  said  or  done  evil  unadvisedly ;  and  so  turned 
about,  and  prepared  himself  for  his  death. 

Jerome  spake  next,  and  declared  his  faith  upon  every  article  [Ibid.  p. 
of  the  Creed  ;  and  said,  that  he  believed  all  that  was  in  the  444'-' 
holy  scriptures.  He  also  prayed  for  the  king  and  the  prince  : 
and  concluded  with  a  very  pathetical  exhortation  to  mutual 
love  and  charity  ;  that  they  would  propose  to  themselves  the 
pattern  of  Christ's  wonderful  love,  through  whom  only  he 
hoped  to  be  saved  ;  and  desired  all  their  prayers  for  himself 


474  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  l 

and  his  brethren.  Then  Gerrard  declared  his  faith,  and  said, 
that  if,  through  ignorance  or  negligence,  he  had  taught  any 
error,  he  was  sorry  for  it ;  and  asked  God  pardon,  and  them, 
whom  he  had  thereby  offended.  But  he  protested,  that,  accord- 
ing to  his  learning  and  knowledge,  he  had  always  set  forth  the 
honour  of  God,  and  the  obedience  of  the  king's  laws.  Then 
they  all  prayed  for  the  pardon  of  their  sins,  and  constancy  and 
patience  in  their  sufferings  :  and  so  they  embraced  and  kissed 
one  another ;  and  then  the  executioners  tied  them  to  the  stake, 
and  set  fire  to  them. 

Their  death  did  rather  encourage  than  dishearten  their 
followers  ;  who,  seeing  such  an  extraordinary  measure  of 
patience  in  them,  were  the  more  confirmed  in  their  resolutions 
of  suffering  for  a  good  conscience,  and  for  his  name,  who  did  299 
not  forsake  his  servants  in  their  cruel  agonies.  One  difference 
between  their  sufferings  and  the  other  three,  who  were  hanged 
for  asserting  the  pope's  supremacy,  was  remarkable ;  that, 
though  the  others  demeaned  themselves  toward  them  with  the 
most  uncharitable  and  spiteful  malice  that  was  possible,  (so  that 
[Sanders,  their  own  historian  says,  that  their  being  carried  with  them  to 
p.  1 50. j  their  execution  was  bitterer  to  them  than  death  itself,)  yet  they 
declared  their  hearty  forgiving  of  their  enemies,  and  of 
Gardiner  in  particular,  who  was  generally  looked  on  as  the 
person  that  procured  their  death  ;  which  imputation  stuck  fast 
to  him,  though  by  a  printed  apology  he  studied  to  clear 
himself  of  any  other  concernment  in  it,  than  bv  o-ivino-  his  vote 
for  the  act  of  their  attainder. 
Bonner's  Now  Bonner  began  to  shew  his  nature.  Hitherto  he  had 
cruelty.  acted  another  part :  for,  being  most  extremely  desirous  of  pre- 
ii.  p.  446.]  ferment,  he  had  so  complied  with  Cromwell  and  Cranmer,  that 
they  had  great  confidence  in  him ;  and  he  being  a  blustering 
and  forward  man,  they  thought  he  might  do  the  reformation 
good  service,  and  therefore  he  was  advanced  so  high  by  their 
means.  But  as  soon  as  ever  Croimvell  fell,  the  very  next  day 
he  shewed  his  ingratitude,  and  how  nimbly  he  turned  with  the 
wind!  For  Grafton  the  printer,  (whom  Cromwell  favoured 
much  for  his  printing  the  Bible,  and  who  was  by  that  means 
very  familiar  with  Bonner,)  meeting  him,  said,  He  was  very 
sorry  for  the  news  he  hoard  of  Cromwell's  being  sent  to  the 
Tower.     Bonner  answered,    It    had  been  ffood   he  had  been 


book  m.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1540.)  475 

despatched  long  ago.     So  the  other  shrunk  away,  perceiving 

the  change  that  was   in   him.     And,  some   days  after  that, 

Grafton  being;  brought  before  the  council  for  some  verses  which 

he  was  believed  to  have  printed  in  commendation  of  Cromwell, 

Bonner  informed  the  council  of  what  Grafton  had  said  to  him 

upon  Cromwell's  being  arrested,  to  make  the  other  charge  seem 

the  more  probable.     Yet  Audley  the  chancellor  was  Grafton's 

friend,  and  brought  him  off.  But  Bonner  gave  the  city  of  London 

quickly  cause  to  apprehend  the  utmost  severities  from  him  :  for 

many  were  indicted  by  his  procurement.     Yet  the  king  was 

1  oath  to  give  too  many  instances  of  cruelty  in  this  declination  of 

his  age  ;  and  therefore,  by  an  order  from  the  star-chambers 

they  were  discharged.    But,  upon  what  motives  I  cannot  fancy, 

he83  picked  out  an  instance,  which,  if  the  deeper  stains  of  his 

following  life  had  not  dashed  all  particular  spots,  had  been 

sufficient  to  have   blemished  him   for  ever.     There  was  one 

Richard  Mekins,  a  boy  not  above  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  both 

illiterate  and  very  ignorant,  who  had  said  somewhat  against  the 

corporal  presence  of  Christ's  body  in  the  sacrament,  and  in 

commendation  of  doctor  Barnes.     Upon  this  he  was  indicted. 

The  words   were  proved   by   two  witnesses,   and  a  day  was 

appointed  for  the  juries  to  bring  in  their  verdict.    The  day 

being  come,  the  grand  jury  was  called  for  :    then  the  foreman 

said,  they  had  found  nothing.     This  put  Bonner  in  a  fury,  and 

he  charged  them  with  perjury  :    but  they  said  they  could  find 

nothing,  for  the  witnesses  did  not  agree.     The  one  deposed, 

that  he  had  said  the  sacrament  was  nothing  but  a  ceremony  ; 

and  the  other,  that  it  was  nothing  but  a  signification.     But 

Bonner  still  persisted,  and  told  them,  that  he  had  said,  that 

Barnes  died  holy.     But  they  could  not  find  these  words  to  be 

300  against  the  statute.     Upon  which  Bonner  cursed,  and  was  in  a 

great  rage,  and  caused  them  to  go  aside  again  :  so  they,  being 

overawed,  returned  and  found  the  indictment.     Then  sat  the 

jury  upon  life  and  death,  who  found  him  guilty  ;  and  he  was 

adjudged  to  bo  burnt.    But  when  he  was  brought  to  the  stake, 

he  was  taught  to  speak  much  good  of  Bonner,  and  to  condemn 

all  heretics,  and  Barnes  in  particular,  saying,  he  had  learned 

heresy  of  him.     Thus  the  buy  was  made  to  die  with  a  lie  in  his 

83   lie  in  that,  place  belongs  to  the      have  been  expressed  that  it  is  Conner 
king   named  before;    so  it  should     that  is  here  meant.    [F.] 


476 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Fox.  [vol. 
ii.  p.  447.] 

[Ibid.  p. 

453-] 


New  bi- 
shoprics 
founded. 


[Rymer, 
t.  xiv.  p. 

7I7-] 

[Sept.  3. 
Ibid.  p. 
724-] 
[Sept.  4. 
Ibid.  p. 
73i] 

[Sept.  1. 
1542.  Ibid. 
P-  754] 
[June  4. 
1542.  Ibid. 
p.  748.] 


Collect. 
Numb.  2- 


mouth.  For  Barnes  held  not  that  opinion  of  the  sacrament's 
being  only  a  ceremony  or  signification,  but  was  a  zealous 
Lutheran  :  which  appeared  very  signally  on  many  occasions, 
chiefly  in  Lambert's  case.  Three  others  were  also  burnt  at 
Salisbury  upon  the  same  statute,  one  of  whom  was  a  priest. 
Two  also  were  burnt  at  Lincoln  in  one  day  :  besides,  a  great 
number  of  persons  were  brought  in  trouble,  and  kept  long  in 
prison  upon  the  statute  of  the  six  articles.  But  more  blood  I 
find  not  spilt  at  this  time. 

In  the  end  of  this  year  were  the  new  bishoprics  founded. 
For  in  December  was  the  abbey  of  Westminster  converted  into 
a  bishop's  see,  and  a  deanery  and  twelve  prebends,  with  the 
officers  for  a  cathedral  and  a  choir.  And  in  the  year  following, 
on  the  fourth  of  August,  the  king  erected,  out  of  the  monastery 
of  St.Werburgh  at  Chester,  a  bishopric,  a  deanery,  and  six 
prebends.  In  September,  out  of  the  monastery  at  St.  Peter's 
at  Gloucester,  the  king  endowed  a  bishopric,  a  deanery,  and 
six  prebendaries.  And  in  the  same  month,  the  abbey  of 
Peterborough  was  converted  to  a  bishop's  seat,  a  deanery,  and 
six  prebendaries.  And  to  lay  this  whole  matter  together,  two 
years  after  this,  the  abbey  of  Oseney  in  Oxford  was  converted 
into  a  bishopric,  a  deanery,  and  six  prebends.  And  the 
monastery  of  St.  Austin's  in  Bristol  was  changed  into  the  same 
use.  There  are  many  other  grants  also  in  the  rolls,  both  to 
the  bishops,  and  deans,  and  chapters  of  these  sees.  But  these 
foundations  will  be  better  understood  by  their  charters ;  of 
which,  since  the  bishopric  of  Westminster  is  least  known, 
because  long  ago  suppressed,  I  have  chosen  to  set  down  the 
charter  of  that  see,  which  the  reader  will  find  in  the  Collection  : 
and  they  running  all  in  the  same  style,  one  may  serve  for  the 
rest.  The  substance  of  the  preamble  is,  "  That  the  king, 
"  being  moved  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  intending  nothing 
"  more  than  that  true  religion,  and  the  sincere  worship  of  God, 
"  should  not  be  abolished,  but  rather  restored  to  the  primitive 
"  sincerity,  and  reformed  from  these  abuses  with  which  the 
"  profession  and  the  lives  of  the  monks  had  so  long  and  so 
"  lamentably  corrupted  religion  ;  had,  as  far  as  human  infirmity 
"  could  foresee,  designed  that  the  word  of  God  might  be 
"  sincerely  preached,  the  sacraments  purely  administered,  good 
"  order  kept  up,   the  youth   well  instructed,  and  old  people 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  477 

"  relieved,  with  other  public  almsdeeds :  and  therefore  the 
"  king  erected  and  endowed  these  sees."  The  day  after  these 
several  grants,  there  followed  a  writ  to  the  archbishop,  con- 
taining, that  the  king  had  appointed  such  a  person  to  be  bishop 
of  that  see,  requiring  him  to  consecrate  and  ordain  him  in  due 
form.  Then  the  priories  at  most  cathedrals,  such  as  Canter- 
bury, Winchester,  Durham,  Worcester,  Carlisle,  Rochester, 
and  Ely,  were  also  converted  into  deaneries,  and  colleges  of 
301  prebends,  with  many  other  officers,  and  an  allowance  of  charity 
to  be  yearly  distributed  to  the  poor. 

But  as  all  this  came  far  short  of  what  the  king  had  once  Cranmer's 
intended,  so  Cranmer's  design  was  quite  disappointed  :  for  he  Carrfes  ™ 
had  projected,  that  in  every  cathedral  there  should  be  pro- 
vision made  for  readers  of  divinity,  and  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  ; 
and  a  great  number  of  students,  to  be  both  exercised  in  the 
daily  worship  of  God,  and  trained  up  in  study  and  devotion, 
whom  the  bishop  might  transplant  out  of  this  nursery  into  all 
the  parts  of  his  diocese.  And  thus  every  bishop  should  have 
had  a  college  of  clergymen  under  his  eye,  to  be  preferred 
according  to  their  merit.  He  saw  great  disorders  among  some 
prebendaries,  and,  in  a  long  letter,  the  original  of  which  I  have 
seen,  he  expressed  his  regret  that  these  endowments  went  in 
such  a  channel.  Yet  now  his  power  was  not  great  at  court, 
and  the  other  party  ran  down  all  his  motions.  But  these  who 
observed  things  narrowly,  judged,  that  a  good  mixture  of  pre- 
bendaries, and  of  young  clerks,  bred  up  about  cathedrals 
under  the  bishop's  eye,  and  the  conduct  and  direction  of  the 
dean  and  prebendaries,  had  been  one  of  the  greatest  blessings 
that  could  have  befallen  the  church ;  which  not  being  suffi- 
ciently provided  of  houses  for  the  forming  of  the  minds  and 
manners  of  those  who  are  to  be  received  into  orders,  has  since 
felt  the  ill  effects  of  it  very  sensibly.  Against  this,  Cranm«r 
had  projected  a  noble  remedy,  had  not  the  popish  party  then 
at  court,  who  very  well  apprehended  the  advantages  such 
nurseries  would  have  given  to  the  reformation,  borne  clown  this 
proposition,  and  turned  all  the  king's  bounty  and  foundations 
another  way. 

These  new  foundations  gave  some  credit  to  the  king's  pro-  These 
cecdings,  and  made  the  suppression  of  chantries  and  chapels  go  j."1^ 
on  more  smoothly.     But  those  of  the  Roman  party  beyond  sea  censured. 


478  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

censured  this,  as  they  had  done  all  the  rest  of  the  king's 
actings.  They  said  it  was  but  a  slight  restitution  of  a  small 
part  of  the  goods  of  which  ho  had  robbed  the  church.  And 
they  complained  of  the  king's  encroaching  on  the  spiritual 
jurisdiction  of  the  church,  by  dismembering  dioceses,  and 
removing  churches  from  one  jurisdiction  to  another.  To  this  it 
was  answered,  that  the  necessities  which  their  practices  put  on 
the  king,  both  to  fortify  his  coast  and  dominions,  to  send 
money  beyond  sea  for  keeping  the  war  at  a  distance  from 
himself,  and  to  secure  his  quiet'  at  home  by  easy  grants  of 
these  lands,  made  him  that  he  could  not  do  all  that  he  intended. 
And  for  the  division  of  dioceses,  many  things  were  brought 
from  the  Roman  law,  to  shew,  that  the  division  of  the  eccle- 
siastical jurisdiction,  whether  of  patriarchs,  primates,  metropo- 
litans, or  bishops,  was  regulated  by  the  emperors,  of  which  the 
ancient  councils  always  approved.  And  in  England,  when  the 
bishopric  of  Lincoln  being  judged  of  too  great  an  extent, 
the  bishopric  of  Ely  was  taken  out  of  it,  it  was  done  only 
by  the  king,  with  the  consent  of  his  clergy  and  nobles.  Pope 
Nicolas  indeed  officiously  intruded  himself  into  that  matter,  by 
sending  afterwards  a  confirmation  of  that  which  was  done  :  but 
that  was  one  of  the  great  arts  of  the  papacy,  to  offer  confirma- 
tions of  things  that  were  done  without  the  popes.  For  these 
being  easily  received  by  them  that  thought  of  nothing  more 
than  to  give  the  better  countenance  to  their  own  acts,  the  popes  302 
afterwards  founded  a  right  on  these  confirmations.  The  very 
receiving  of  them  was  pretended  to  be  an  acknowledgment  of  a 
title  in  the  pope  :  and  the  matter  was  so  artificially  managed, 
that  princes  were  noosed  into  some  approbation  of  such  a 
pretence,  before  they  were  aware  of  it.  And  then  the  authority 
of  the  canon  law  prevailing,  maxims  were  laid  down  in  it, 
by  which  the  most  tacit  and  inconsiderate  acts  of  princes  were 
construed  to  such  senses,  as  still  advanced  the  greatness  of  the 
papal  pretensions. 

This  business  of  the  new  foundations  being  thus  settled,  the 
matters  of  the  church  were  now  put  in  a  method  ;  and  the 
Bishops'  Book  was  the  standard  of  religion  :  so  that  what- 
soever was  not  agreeable  to  that  was  judged  heretical,  whether 
it  leaned  to  the  one  side  or  the  other.  But  it  seems  that  the 
king,  by  some  secret  order,  had  chained  up  the  party,  which 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  479 

was  going  on  in  the  execution  of  the  statute  of  the  six  articles, 
that  they  should  not  proceed  capitally. 

Thus  matters  went  this  year ;  and  with  this  the  series  of  The  state 
the  history  of  the  reformation,  made  by  this  king,  ends  :  for  it  at  this  ol 
was  now  digested  and  formed  into  a  body.  What  followed  time- 
was  not  in  a  thread,  but  now  and  then  some  remarkable  things 
were  done  ;  sometimes  in  favour  of  the  one,  and  sometimes  of 
the  other  party.  For,  after  Cromwell  fell,  the  king  did  not  go 
on  so  steadily  in  anything  as  he  had  done  formerly.  Cromwell 
had  an  ascendant  over  him,  which,  after  cardinal  Wolsey's  fall, 
none  besides  himself  ever  had.  They  knew  how  to  manage 
the  king's  uneasy  and  imperious  humour ;  but  now  none  had 
such  a  power  over  him.  The  duke  of  Norfolk  was  rich  and 
brave,  and  made  his  court  well,  but  had  not  so  great  a  genius : 
so  that  the  king  did  rather  trust  and  fear,  than  esteem  him. 
Gardiner  was  only  a  tool  ;  and,  being  of  an  abject  spirit,  was 
employed,  but  not  at  all  reverenced,  by  the  king.  Cranmer 
retained  always  his  candour  and  simplicity,  and  was  a  great 
prelate  ;  but  neither  a  good  courtier,  nor  a  statesman  :  and  the 
king  esteemed  him  more  for  his  virtues,  than  for  his  dexterity 
and  cunning  in  business.  So  that  now  the  king  was  left 
wholly  to  himself;  and,  being  extreme  humorous  and  impa- 
tient, there  were  more  errors  committed  in  the  last  years  of 
his  government,  than  had  been  for  his  whole  reign  before. 
France  forsook  him  ;  Scotland  made  war  upon  him,  which 
might  have  been  fatal  to  him,  if  their  king  had  not  died  in  the 
beginning  of  it,  leaving  an  infant  princess,  but  a  few  days  old, 
behind  him.  And  though  the  emperor  made  peace  with  him, 
yet  it  was  but  an  hollow  agreement :  of  all  which  I  shall  give 
but  slender  hints  in  the  rest  of  this  book ;  and  rather  open 
some  few  particulars,  than  pursue  a  continued  narration,  since 
the  matter  of  my  work  fails  me. 

In  May,  the  thirty-third  year  of  the  king's  reign,  a  new  The  Bible 
impression  of  the  Bible  was  finished ;  and  the  kins*,  by  pro-  m  Eil.y;hsh 

1  .      .  /.       L  set  upm  all 

clamation,   "  required  all  curates,  and  parishioners   of  every  churches. 
"  town  and  parish,  to  provide  themselves  a  copy  of  it  before  ^°!lect- 
"  Allhallowtide,  under  the  penalty  of  forfeiting  forty  shillings 
"  a  month,  after  that,  till  they  had  one.     He  declared  that  he 
"  set  it  forth  to  the  end  that  his  people  might,  by  reading  it, 
"  perceive  the  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  God ;  observe 


480  THE   HISTORY   OF  [part  i. 

"  his  commandments,  obey  the  laws  and  their  prince,  and  live  303 
"  in  godly  charity  among  themselves  :  but  that  the  king  did 
"  not  thereby  intend  that  his  subjects  should  presume  to  ex- 
"  pound,  or  take  arguments  from  scripture,  nor  disturb  divine 
"  service  by  reading  it  when  mass  was  celebrating ;  but  should 
"  read  it  meekly,  humbly,  and  reverently,  for  their  instruction, 
"  edification,  and  amendment."  There  was  also  care  taken  so 
to  regulate  the  prices  of  the  Bibles,  that  there  should  be  no 
exacting  on  the  subjects  in  the  sale  of  them.  And  Bonner, 
seeins;  the  kind's  mind  was  set  on  this,  ordered  six  of  these 
great  Bibles  to  be  set  up  in  several  places  of  St.  Paul's ;  that 
all  persons,  who  could  read,  might  at  all  times  have  free  access 
to  them.  And,  upon  the  pillars  to  which  these  Bibles  were 
Collect.  chained,  an  exhortation  was  set  up,  "  admonishing  all  that 
Numb.  25.  ((  came  fljifkg,.  t0  reac|,  that  they  should  lay  aside  vainglory, 
"  hypocrisy,  and  all  other  corrupt  affections,  and  bring  with 
"  them  discretion,  good  intentions,  charity,  reverence,  and  a 
"  quiet  behaviour,  for  the  edification  of  their  own  souls  ;  but 
"  not  to  draw  multitudes  about  them,  nor  to  make  expositions 
"  of  what  they  read,  nor  to  read  aloud,  nor  make  noise  in  time 
"  of  divine  service,  nor  enter  into  disputes  concerning  it."  But 
people  came  generally  to  hear  the  scriptures  read  ;  and  such 
as  could  read,  and  had  clear  voices,  came  often  thither  with 
great  crowds  about  them.  And  many  set  their  children  to 
school,  that  they  might  carry  them  with  them  to  St.  Paul's, 
and  hear  them  read  the  scriptures.  Nor  could  the  people  be 
hindered  from  entering  into  disputes  about  some  places  :  for 
who  could  hear  the  words  of  the  institution  of  the  sacrament, 
[Matt  Drink  ye  all  of  it,  or  St.  Paul's  discourse  against  worship  in  an 
xxvi.  27.]  unknown  tongue,  and  not  from  thence  be  led  to  consider,  that 
the  people  were  deprived  of  the  cup,  which,  by  Christ's  express 
command,  was  to  be  drunk  by  all :  and  that  they  were  kept  in 
a  worship,  to  which  the  unlearned  could  not  say,  Amen;  since 
they  understood  not  what  was  said,  either  in  the  collects  or 
hymns  1  So  the  king  had  many  complaints  brought  him  of  the 
abuses  that  were  said  to  have  risen  from  the  liberty  given  the 
people  to  read  the  scriptures.  Upon  which  Bonner  (no  doubt 
having  obtained  the  king's  leave)  set  up  a  new  advertisement, 
in  which  he  complained  of  these  abuses  in  the  reading  the 
Bible ;  for  which  he  threatened   the  people,  that  he  would 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1541.)  481 

remove  these  Bibles  out  of  the  church,  if  they  continued,  as 
they  did,  to  abuse  so  high  a  favour.   Yet  these  complaints  pro- 
duced no  further  severity  at  this  time :  but  by  them  the  popish 
party  afterwards  obtained  what  they  desired.     This  summer  [Dugdalo 
the  king  turned  the  monastery  of  Burton  upon  Trent  into  a  ^sh* 
collegiate  church  for  a  dean  and  four  prebends  ;  and  the  mo-  tom.3p.35. 
nastery  of  Thornton  in  Lincolnshire  into  another  for  a  dean  p>  3?4  j '  ' 
and  four  prebends.     In  this  year  Cranmer  took  it  into  con-     1541. 
sideration,  to  what  excess  the  tables  of  the  bishops  had  risen,  about 
whereby  those  revenues,  that  ought  to  have  been  applied  to  church- 

.  ,  .  .  .  ,     men's 

better  purposes,  were  wasted  on  great  entertainments ;  which,  house- 
though  they  passed  under  the  decent  name  of  hospitality,  yet  keeping. 
were  in  themselves  both  too  high  and  expensive,  and  proved  Brit,  in 
great  hindrances  to  churchmen's  charity  in  more  necessary  r^",3  i 
and  profitable  instances.     He  therefore  set  out  an  order84  for 
regulating  that  expense ;  by  which  an  archbishop's  table  was 
not  to  exceed  six  dishes  of  meat,  and  four  of  banquet ;  a  Bellaria. 
304  bishop's,  five  dishes  of  meat,  and  three  of  baflquet ;  a  dean's  or  tluldJ 
archdeacon's  table  was  not  to  exceed  four  dishes,  and  two  of 
banquet ;  and  other  clergymen  might  be  served  only  with  two 
dishes.     But  he  that  gives  us  the  account  of  this,  laments  that 
this  regulation  took  no  effect :  and  complains,  that  the  people, 
expecting  generally  such  splendid  housekeeping  from  the  dig- 
nified clergy,  and  not  considering  how  short  their  revenues  are 
of  what  they  were  anciently ;  they,  out  of  a  weak  compliance 
with  the  multitude,  have  disabled  themselves  of  keeping  hospi- 
tality, as  our  Saviour  ordered  it,  not  for  the  rich,  but  the  poor  ; 
not  to  mention  the  other  ill  effects  that  follow  too  sumptuous  a 
table. 

In  the  end  cf  this  year,  the  tragical  fall  of  the  queen  put  a  The  king- 
stop  to  all  other  proceedings.  The  king  had  invited  his  nephew,  y^0 
the  king  of  Scotland,  to  meet  him  at  York,  who  was  resolved 
to  come  thither.  The  king  intended  to  gain  upon  him  all  he 
could,  and  to  engage  him  to  follow  the  copy  he  had  set  him,  in 
extirpating  the  pope's  supremacy,  and  suppressing  abbeys,  and 
to  establish  a  firm  agreement  in  all  other  things.  The  clergy 
of  Scotland  feared  the  ill  effects  of  that  interview;  especially 

84  This  order  I  have  seen  printed  of  the  other  archbishop  and  most 

1 54 1,  amongst  archbishop  Parker's  of  the  bishops.  [B.] 
papers,  but  it  was  with  the  consent 

BURNET,  PART  I.  I  i 


482  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

their  king  being  a  prince  of  most  extraordinary  parts,  who, 
had  he  not  blemished  his  government  with  being  so  extremely 
addicted  to  his  pleasures,  was  the  greatest  prince  that  nation 
had  for  several  ages.  He  was  a  great  patron  of  learning,  and 
executor  of  justice :  he  used  in  person  and  incognito  to  go  over 
his  kingdom,  and  see  how  justice  was  every  where  done.  He 
had  no  very  good  opinion  of  the  religious  orders,  and  had  en- 
couraged Buchanan  to  write  a  severe  and  witty  libel  against 
the  Franciscan  friars85.  So  that  they  were  very  apprehensive 
that  he  might  have  been  wrought  on  by  his  uncle  :  therefore 
they  used  all  their  endeavours  to  divert  his  journey.  But  the 
French  king,  that  had  him  fast  engaged  to  his  interest,  falling 
then  off  from  the  king,  wrought  more  on  him.  So,  instead  of 
meeting  the  king  at  York,  where  magnificent  preparations 
were  made  for  his  reception,  he  sent  his  excuse ;  which  pro- 
voked his  uncle,  and  gave  occasion  to  a  breach  that  followed 
not  long  after. 
An  account  But  here  I  shall  crave  the  reader's  leave  to  give  a  full  re- 
of  Scotland,  presentation  of  the  state  of  religion  at  this  time  in  Scotland, 
and  of  the  footing  the  reformation  had  got  there.  Its  neigh- 
bourhood to  England,  and  the  union  of  these  kingdoms  first  in 
the  same  religion,  and  since  under  the  same  princes,  together 
with  the  intercourse  that  was  both  in  this  and  the  next  reign 
between  these  nations,  seem  not  only  to  justify  this  digression, 
but  rather  challenge  it  as  a  part  of  the  history,  without  which 
it  should  bo  defective.  And  it  may  be  the  rather  expected 
from  one,  who  had  his  birth  and  education  in  that  kingdom. 
The  begin-  The  correspondence  between  that  crown  and  France  was  the 
learning  cause,  that  what  learning  they  had  came  from  Paris,  wrhere 
there ;  our  kings  generally  kept  some  scholars  ;  and  from  that  great 
nursery  they  were  brought  over,  and  set  in, the  universities  of 
Scotland  to  propagate  learning  there.  From  the  year  1412, 
in  which  Wardlaw,  archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's  first  founded 
that  university,  learning  had  made  such  a  progress,  that  more 
colleges  were  soon  after  founded  in  that  city.  Universities 
were  also  founded  both  at  Glasgow  and  Aberdeen,  which  have  305 
since  furnished  that  nation  with  many  eminent  scholars  in  all 
And  of  the  professions.     But  at  the  time  that  learning  came  into  Scotland, 

reforma- 
tion. 85  [This  was  entitled  'Francis-     Vide  Buchanani  Opera,  torn.  ii.  p.  i. 
canus,'  and  appeared  first  in  1539.     ed.  Edin.  1715.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1541.)  483 

the  knowledge  of  true  religion  also  followed  it :  and,  in  that 
same  archbishop's  time,  one  John  Resby,  an  Englishman,   a 
follower  of  WycliftVs  opinions,  was  charged  with  heresy.   Forty  Archbishop 
articles  were  objected  to  him,  of  which  two  are  only  mentioned,  r^c^ed 
The  one  was,  that  the  pope  is  not  Christ's  vicar.     The  other  L<md. 
was,  that  he  was  not  to  be  esteemed  a  pope,  if  he  ivas  a  man 
of  wicked  life.     For  maintaining  these,   he  was  burnt  anno 
1 407.     Twenty-four  years  after  that,  one  Paul  Craw  came  out  Lesley, 
of  Germany,  and,  being  a  Bohemian  and  an  Hussite,  was  in-  Pe  0n£- 
fusing  his  doctrine  into  some  at  St.  Andrew's  ;    which  being  264,  ed. 
discovered,  he  was  judged  an  obstinate  heretic,  and  burnt  there  l  7;i '-' 
anno  1432.     And,  to  encourage  people  to  prosecute  such  per- 
sons, Fogo,  who  had  discovered  him,  was  rewarded  with  the 
abbey  of  Melrose  soon  after. 

It  does  not  appear  that  those  doctrines,  which  were  called 
Lollardies  in  England,  had  gained  many  followers  in  Scotland 
till  near  the  end  of  that  century.  But  then  it  was  found  that 
they  were  much  spread  over  the  western  parts  ;  which  being 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  England,  those  who  were  persecuted 
there  might  perhaps  fly  into  Scotland,  and  spread  their  doctrine 
in  that  kingdom.  Several  persons  of  quality  were  then  charged  Spotswood. 
with  these  articles,  and  brought  to  the  archbishop  of  Glasgow's 
courts.  But  they  answered  him  with  such  confidence,  that  he 
thought  fit  to  discharge  them,  with  an  admonition  to  take  heed 
of  new  doctrines,  and  to  content  themselves  with  the  faith  of 
the  church. 

At  this  time  the  clergy  in  Scotland  were  both  very  ignorant  The  clergy 
and  dissolute  in  their  manners.      The  secular  clergy  minded  ^norant  * 
nothing  but  their  tithes,  and  did   either  hire  some  friars  to  and  ciuel- 
preach,  or  some  poor  priests  to  sing  masses  to  them  at  their 
churches.     The  abbots  had  possessed  themselves  of  the  best 
seats,  and  the  greatest  wealth  of  the  nation  :  and,  by  a  profuse 
superstition,  almost  the  one  half  of  the  kingdom  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  churchmen.     The  bishops  looked  more  after  the 

86  [The   History  of  the  Church  and  wise  counsellor  J.  Spotswood, 

and   State  of  Scotland,   Beginning  Lord   Archbishop   of  St.  Andrews, 

the  year  of  our  Lord  203,  and  con-  and  Privy  Counsellor  to  KingCharles 

tinued  to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  the  First,  that  most  religious  and 

King  James  the  6,  of  ever  blessed  blessed  prince  and  martyr.      The 

memory.   In  seven  books.   Written  fourth  edition,  fol.  Lond.  1677. 1 
by  that  grave  and  reverend  prelate 

i  i  2 


484  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

affairs  of  the  state,  than  the  concerns  of  the  church  ;  and  were 
resolved  to  maintain,  by  their  cruelty,  what  their  predecessors 
had  acquired  by  fraud  and  impostures.  And,  as  Lesley  himself 
confesses,  there  was  no  pains  taken  to  instruct  the  people  in 
the  principles  of  religion ;  nor  were  the  children  at  all  cate- 
chised, but  left  in  ignorance :  and  the  ill  lives  of  the  clergy, 
who  were  both  covetous  and  lewd,  disposed  the  people  to  favour 
those  that  preached  for  a  reformation.  The  first  that  suffered 
Patrick  in  this  age  was  Patrick  Hamilton,  a  person  of  very  noble  blood  : 
Hamilton's  his  fether  was  brother  to  the  earl  of  Arran,  and  his  mother 

sunenngs. 

[Spots-  sister  to  the  duke  of  Albany  8?  ;  so  nearly  was  he  on  both 
p0^.']  sides  related  to  the  king.  He  was  provided  of  the  abbey  of 
Fern  in  his  youth;  and,  being  designed  for  greater  prefer- 
ments, he  was  sent  to  travel.  But,  as  he  went  through  Ger- 
many, he  contracted  a  friendship  with  Luther,  Melancthon, 
and  others  of  their  persuasion;  by  whose  means  he  was  in- 
structed in  the  points  about  which  they  differed  from  the 
church  of  Rome.  He  returned  to  Scotland,  that  he  might 
communicate  that  knowledge  to  others,  with  which  himself  was 
so  happily  enlightened.  And,  little  considering  either  the  hin- 
drance of  his  further  preferment,  or  the  other  dangers  that 
might  lie  in  his  way,  he  spared  not  to  lay  open  the  corruptions  306 
of  the  Roman  church,  and  to  shew  the  errors  that  had  crept 
into  the  Christian  religion.  He  was  a  man  both  of  great 
learning,  and  of  a  sweet  and  charming  conversation,  and  came 
to  be  followed  and  esteemed  by  all  sorts  of  people. 

The  clergy,  being  enraged  at  this,  invited  him  to  St.  An- 
drew's, that  there  might  be  conferences  held  with  him  about 
those  points  which  he  condemned.  And  one  friar  Campbell, 
prior  of  the  Dominicans,  who  had  the  reputation  of  a  learned 
man,  was  appointed  to  treat  with  him.  They  had  many  con- 
ferences together,  and  the  prior  seemed  to  be  convinced  in 
most  points ;   and  acknowledged  there  were  many  things  in 

87  [Sir  Patrick  Hamilton  of  Kin-  gitimate  daughter  of  the  duke  of 

caril  in  Linlithgowshire  was  the  il-  Albany,  brother  of  James  the  Third, 

legitimate  son  of  James,  second  lord  He  was  merely  titular  abbot  of  Fern 

Hamilton,  created  earl  of  Arran  in  in  Rossshire,  for  he  does  not  appear 

1503;  but  he  was  legitimatized  by  to  have  been  in  holy  orders, 
charter  under  the  great  seal  in  151 2.         Note  p.  13  of  Keith's  History,  ed. 

The  abbot  of  Fern  was  his  youngest  Edin.  T844.] 
son   by  Catherine  Stuart,  an  ille- 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1528.)  485 

the  church  that  required  reformation.  But  all  this  while  he 
was  betraying  him  ;  so  that,  when  the  abbot  looked  for  no 
such  thing,  he  was  in  the  night-time  made  prisoner,  and  carried 
to  the  archbishop's  castle.  There  several  articles  were  objected  [Ibid.  p. 
to  him,  about  original  sin,  free-will,  justification,  good  works,  ^ 
priestly  absolution,  auricular  confession,  purgatory,  and  the 
pope's  being  Antichrist.  Some  of  these  he  positively  adhered 
to,  the  others  he  thought  were  disputable  points ;  yet  he  said 
he  would  not  condemn  them,  except  he  saw  better  reasons  than 
any  he  had  yet  heard.  The  matter  was  referred  to  twelve  divines 
of  the  university,  of  whom  friar  Campbell  was  one  :  and,  within 
a  day  or  two,  they  censured  all  his  tenets  as  heretical,  and 
contrary  to  the  faith  of  the  church.  On  the  first  of  March  [1528] 
judgment  was  given  upon  him  by  Beaton,  archbishop  of  St. 
Andrew's 88 ;  with  whom  sat  the  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  the 
bishops  of  Dunkeld,  Brechin,  and  Dunblane,  five  abbots89,  and 
many  of  the  inferior  clergy.  They  also  made  the  whole  uni- 
versity, old  and  young,  sign  it.  He  was  declared  an  obstinate 
heretic,  and  delivered  to  the  secular  power. 

The  king  had  at  that  time  gone  a  pilgrimage  to  Ross :  and 
the  clergy,  fearing  less  nearness  of  blood,  with  the  intercessions 
which  might  be  made  for  him,  should  snatch  this  prey  out  of 
their  hands,  proceeded  that  same  day  to  his  execution.  So  in 
the  afternoon  he  was  brought  to  the  stake  before  St.  Salvator's 
college.  He  stripped  himself  of  his  garments,  and  gave  them 
to  his  man ;  and  said,  He  had  no  more  to  leave  him,  but  the 
example  of  his  death  :  that  he  prayed  him  to  keep  in  mind. 
For  though  it  ivas  bitter  and  painful  in  man's  judgment,  yet 
it  ivas  the  entrance  to  everlasting  life,  which  none  could 
inherit  that  denied  Christ  before  such  a  congregation.  Then  [ibid.  p. 
he  was  tied  to  a  stake,  and  a  great  deal  of  fuel  was  heaped  64^ 
about  him  ;  which  he  seemed  not  to  fear,  but  continued  lifting 
up  his  eyes  to  heaven,  and  recommending  his  soul  to  God. 
When  the  train  of  powder  was  kindled,  it  did  not  take  hold  of 
the  fuel,  but  only  scorched  his  hand,  and  the  side  of  his  face. 
This  occasioned  some  delay,  till  more  powder  was  brought  from 

88  [Sentence  was  pronounced  by  the  giving  of  the   sentence.      See 

James   Beaton,   archbishop   of  St.  Keith,  vol.  i.  p.  329.] 

Andrew's.      Cardinal  Beaton,  then  89  [Spotswood  says  four  abbots 

abbot  of  Arbroath,  was  present  at  and  two  priors.] 


486  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  castle  ;  during  which  time  the  friars  were  very  troublesome, 
and  called  to  him  to  turn,  and  pray  to  our  Lady,  and  say, 
Salve  Regina.  None  were  more  officious  than  friar  Camp- 
bell. The  abbot  wished  him  often  to  let  him  alone,  and  give 
him  no  more  trouble.  But  the  friar  continuing  to  importune 
him,  he  said  to  him,  Wicked  man,  thou  knoivest  that  I  am  not 
an  heretic,  and  that  it  is  the  truth  of  God  for  which  I  now 
suffer.  So  much  thou  didst  confess  to  me  in  private,  and 
thereupon  I  appeal  thee  to  answer  before  the  judgment  seat  o/"307 
Christ.  By  this  time  more  powder  was  brought,  and  the  fire 
was  kindled.  He  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  How  long,  O 
Lord,  shall  darkness  oppress  this  realm  ?  How  long  wilt  thou 
suffer  this  tyranny  of  men  f  and  died  repeating  these  words, 
Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit.  The  patience  and  constancy 
he  expressed  in  his  sufferings  made  the  spectators  generally 
conclude  that  he  was  a  true  martyr  of  Christ ;  in  which  they 
were  the  more  confirmed,  by  friar  Campbell's  falling  into  great 
despair  soon  after,  who  from  that  turned  frantic,  and  died 
within  a  year. 

On  this  I  have  insisted  the  more  fully,  because  it  was  indeed 
the  bey'inninp-  of  the  reformation  in  Scotland  ;  and  raised  there 
an  humour  of  inquiring  into  points  of  religion,  which  did 
The  king's  always  prove  fatal  to  the  church  of  Rome.  In  the  university 
favours  the  itself  many  were  wrought  on,  and  particularly  one  Seton,  a 
reforma-  Dominican  friar,  who  was  the  king's  confessor.  He,  being 
[Ibid.  p.  appointed  to  preach  the  next  Lent  at  St.  Andrew's  insisted 
64  ]  much  on  these  points:  "That  the  law  of  God  was  the  only 

"  rule  of  righteousness ;  that  sin  was  only  committed  when 
"  God's  law  was  violated  ;  that  no  man  could  satisfy  for  sin ; 
"  and  that  pardon  was  to  be  obtained  by  unfeigned  repentance, 
"  and  true  faith."  But  he  never  mentioned  purgatory,  pilgrim- 
ages, merits,  nor  prayers  to  saints  ;  which  used  to  be  the 
subjects  on  which  the  friars  insisted  most  on  these  occasions. 
Being  gone  from  St.  Andrew's,  he  heard  that  another  friar  of 
his  own  order  had  refuted  these  doctrines.  So  he  returned, 
and  confirmed  them  in  another  sermon  :  in  which  he  also 
made  some  reflections  on  bishops  that  were  not  teachers, 
calling  them  dumb  dogs.  For  this  he  was  carried  before  the 
archbishop  ;  but  he  defended  himself,  saying,  that  he  had  only, 
in   St.  Paul's   words,   said,    A  bishop    should    teach  :    and  in 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1533.)  487 

Esaias'  words,  that  such  as  did  not  teach  were  dumb  dogs  : 
but  having  said  this  in  the  general,  he  did  not  apply  it  to  any 
bishop  in  particular.  The  archbishop  was  nettled  at  this  [Ibid.  p. 
answer  ;  yet  resolved  to  let  him  alone  till  he  should  be  brought  *'* 
into  disgrace  with  the  king.  And  that  was  soon  done  ;  for 
the  king  being  a  licentious  prince,  and  friar  Seton  having  often 
reproved  him  boldly  for  it,  he  grew  weary  of  him.  The  clergy 
perceiving  this,  were  resolved  to  fall  upon  him.  So  he  with- 
drew to  Berwick ;  but  wrote  to  the  king,  that  if  he  would 
hear  him  make  his  defence,  he  would  return  and  justify  all 
that  he  had  taught.  He  taxed  the  cruelty  of  the  clergy,  and 
desired  the  king  would  restrain  their  tyranny,  and  consider, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  protect  his  subjects  from  their  severity 
and  malice.  But  receiving  no  satisfactory  answer,  he  lived  in 
England,  where  he  was  entertained  by  the  duke  of  Suffolk  as 
his  chaplain.  Not  long  after  this,  one  Forrest,  a  simple  [1533.] 
Benedictine  monk,  was  accused  for  having  said,  that  Patrick  t(^;re.sts 

'  .  .         sufferings. 

Hamilton  had  died  a  martyr ;  yet  since  there  was  no  sufficient 

proof  to  convict  him,  a  friar,  one  Walter  Lainge,  was  sent  to 

confess  him,  to  whom  in  confession  he  acknowledged,  he  thought 

Hamilton  was  a  good  man,  and  that  the  articles  for  which  he 

was  condemned  might  be  defended.     This  being  revealed  by 

the  friar,  was  taken  for  good  evidence :  so  the  poor  man  was 

condemned  to  be   burnt  as  an  heretic.     As  he  was  led  out 

to   his   execution,    he   said,  Fie  on  falsehood,  fie  on  friars, 

308  revealers  of  confession ;  let  never  man  trust  them  after  me : 

they  are  despisers  of  God,  and  deceivers  of  men.     When  they 

were  considering  in  what  place  to  burn  him,  a  simple  man,  that 

attended  the  archbishop,  advised  to  burn  him  in  some  low 

cellar  ;  for,  said  he,  the  smoke  of  Mr.  Patrick  Hamilton  has 

infected  all  those  on  whom  it  blew. 

Soon  after  this,  abbot  Hamilton's  brother  and  sister  were  A  further 

brought  into  the  bishops'  courts ;   but  the  king,  who  favoured  ^^_ 

this  brother,  persuaded  him  to  absent  himself.     His  sister  and  Scotland. 

six  others  being  brought  before  the  bishop  of  Ross,  who  was  Lj( " p" 

deputed  by  the  archbishop  to  proceed  against  them,  the  king 

himself  dealt  with  the  woman  to  abjure,  which  she  and  the 

other  six  did.     Two  others  were  more  resolute  ;  the  one  was  [1534.] 

Norman  Gourlay,  who  was  charged  with  denying  the  pope's  \A  '  p' 

authority  in  Scotland,  and  saying,  there  was  no  purgatory  : 


488  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

the  other  was  David  Straiton.  He  was  charged  with  the  same 
opinions.  They  also  alleged,  that  he  had  denied  that  tithes 
were  due  to  churchmen  ;  and  that,  when  the  vicar  came  to 
take  the  tithe  out  of  some  fish-boats  that  belonged  to  him,  he 
alleged,  the  tithe  was  to  be  taken  where  the  stock  grew,  and 
therefore  ordered  the  tenth  fish  to  be  cast  into  the  sea,  and 
bade  the  vicar  to  seek  them  there.  They  were  both  judged 
obstinate  heretics,  and  burnt  at  one  stake  the  twenty-seventh 
of  August,  1534.  Upon  this  persecution,  some  others,  who 
were  cited  to  appear,  fled  into  England.  Those  were,  Alexander 
Alesse,  John  Fife,  John  Mackbee,  and  one  Mackdowgall.  The 
first  of  these  was  received  by  Cromwell  into  his  family,  and 
grew  into  great  favour  with  king  Henry,  and  was  commonly 
called  his  scholar ;  of  whom  see  what  was  said,  page  214. 
But  after  Cromwell's  death,  he  took  Fife  with  him,  and  they 
went  into  Saxony,  and  were  both  professors  in  Leipsic.  Mack- 
bee  was  at  first  entertained  by  Shaxton,  bishop  of  Salisbury ; 
but  he  went  afterwards  into  Denmark,  where  he  was  known 
by  the  name  of  doctor  Macabeus,  and  was  chaplain  to  king 
Christian  the  Second. 
The  pro-  But  all  these  violent  proceedings  were  not  effectual  enough 

reforma-  &  *'°  <luench  that  light  which  was  then  shining  there.     Many,  by 
tion.  searching  the  scriptures,  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  ; 

and  the  noise  of  what  was  then  doing  in  England  awakened 
others  to  make  further  inquiries  into  matters  of  religion.    Pope 
Lesley,        Clement  the  Seventh,  apprehending  that  king  Henry  might 
p' 4  prevail  on  his  nephew  to  follow  his  example,  wrote  letters  full 

of  earnest  exhortations  to  him  to  continue  in  the  catholic  faith. 
Upon  which  king  James  called  a  parliament,  and  there,  in  the 
presence  of  the  pope's  nuncio,  declared  his  zeal  for  that  faith 
and  the  apostolic  see.  The  parliament  also  concurred  with 
him  in  it ;  and  made  acts  against  heretics,  and  for  maintaining 
the  pope's  authority.  That  same  pope  did  afterwards  send  to 
desire  him  to  assist  him  in  making  war  against  the  king  of 
England  ;  for  he  was  resolved  to  divide  that  kingdom  among 
those  Avho  would  assist  him  in  driving  out  king  Henry.  But 
the  firm  peace  at  that  time  between  the  king  of  England  and 
the  French  king  kept  him  quiet  from  any  trouble,  which  other- 
wise the  king  of  Scotland  might  have  given  him.  Yet  king 
Henry  *ent  the  bishop  of  St.  David's,  with  the  duke  of  Nor- 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1537.)  489 

folk's  brother,  lord  William  Howard,  to  him  so  unexpectedly, 
that  they  came  to  him  at  Stirling  before  he  had  heard  of  their  Buchanan. 
309  being  sent.  The  bishop  brought  with  him  some  of  the  books  ^gj'1'  p" 
that  had  been  writ  for  the  justifying  king  Henry's  proceeding  : 
and  desired  that  king  would  impartially  examine  them.  But 
he  put  them  into  the  hands  of  some  about  him  that  were 
addicted  to  the  interests  of  Rome,  who,  without  ever  reading 
them,  told  him  they  were  full  of  pestilent  doctrine  and  heresy. 
The  secret  business  they  came  for  was,  to  persuade  that 
king  to  concur  with  his  uncle,  and  to  agree  on  an  interview 
between  them  :  and  they  offered  him,  in  their  master's  name, 
the  lady  Mary  in  marriage,  and  that  he  should  be  made  duke 
of  York,  and  lord  lieutenant  of  all  England.  But  the  clergy  Eegni 
diverted  him  from  it,  and  persuaded  him  rather  to  go  on  in  4ngl.lcl 
his  design  of  a  match  with  France.  And  their  counsels  did  so  [Ibid.] 
prevail,  that  he  resolved  to  go  in  person,  and  fetch  a  queen 
from  thence.  On  the  first  of  January  1537,  he  was  married  to 
Magdalen,  daughter  to  Francis  the  First :  but  she  being  then 
gone  far  in  a  consumption,  died  soon  after  he  had  brought 
her  home  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  May90.  She  was  much 
lamented  by  all  persons,  the  clergy  only  excepted  ;  for  she  had 
been  bred  in  the  queen  of  Navarre's  court,  and  so  they  appre- 
hended she  might  incline  the  king  to  a  reformation.  But  he 
had  seen  another  lady  in  France,  Mary  of  Guise,  whom  he 
then  liked  so  well,  that,  after  his  queen's  death,  he  sent 
cardinal  Beaton  into  France  to  treat  for  a  match  with  her. 
This  gave  the  clergy  as  much  joy  as  the  former  marriage  had 
raised  fear ;  for  no  family  in  Christendom  was  more  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  the  papacy  than  that  was.  And  now  the 
king,  though  lie  had  freer  thoughts  himself,  yet  was  so  engaged 
to  the  pretended  old  religion,  that  he  became  a  violent  per- 
secutor of  all  who  differed  from  it. 

The  king  grew  very  expensive  ;   he  indulged  himself  much  The  king 
in  his  pleasures  ;  he  built  four  noble  palaces,  which,  considering  Jh-^k , 
that  kingdom  and  that  age,  were  very  extraordinary  buildings;  the  clergy. 
he  had  also  many  natural  children,  all  which  things  concurred 
to  make  him  very  desirous  of  money.     There  were  two  differ- 

;)0  [They  arrived  at  Leith,  accord-  places  her  death  on  the  seventh  of 
ing  to  Buchanan,  on  the  twenty-  July  1537.  See  Keith,  vol.  i.  pp.61, 
eighth  of  May,  and  the  same  author     62.] 


490  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

cnt  parties  in  the  court.  The  nobility,  on  the  one  hand,  repre- 
sented to  him  the  great  wealth  that  the  abbots  had  gathered ; 
and  that,  if  he  would  do  as  his  uncle  had  done,  he  would 
thereby  raise  his  revenue  to  the  triple  of  what  it  was,  and 
provide  plentifully  for  his  children.  The  clergy,  on  the  other 
hand,  assured  him,  that,  if  he  would  set  up  a  strict  inquisition 
of  heretics,  he  would  discover  so  many  men  of  estates  that 
were  guilty,  that,  by  their  forfeitures,  he  might  raise  about  an 
hundred  thousand  crowns  a  year :  and  for  his  children,  the 
easiest  way  of  providing  for  them  was,  to  give  them  good 
abbeys  and  priories.  This  they  thought  would  engage  both 
the  king  and  his  sons  to  maintain  their  rights  more  steadily,  if 
their  own  interests  were  interwoven  with  them.  They  also 
persuaded  the  king,  that,  if  he  maintained  the  established  re- 
ligion, it  would  give  him  a  good  interest  in  England,  and  make 
him  be  set  up  by  foreign  princes  as  the  head  of  the  league, 
which  the  pope  and  the  emperor  were  then  projecting  against 
king  Henry.  These  counsels  being  seconded  by  his  queen, 
who  was  a  wise  and  good  lady,  but  wonderfully  zealous  for  the 
papacy,  did  so  prevail  with  him,  that,  as  he  made  four  of  his 
children  abbots  or  priors,  so  he  gave  way  to  the  persecuting 
humour  of  his  priests ;  and  gave  sir  James  Hamilton  (a  natural  310 
brother  of  the  earl  of  Arran's,  in  whom  the  clergy  put  much 
confidence)  a  commission  to  proceed  against  all  that  were  sus- 
pected of  heresy.  In  the  year  1539  many  were  cited  to 
appear  before  a  meeting  of  the  bishops  at  Edinburgh.  Of 
those,  nine  abjured,  many  were  banished,  and  five  were  burnt. 
[Spots-  Forrester,  a  gentleman,  Simpson,  a  secular  priest ;  Killore  and 
WOggk  Beverage,  two  friars ;  and  Forrest  a  canon  regular  ;  were 
[March  i,  burnt  on  the  castle-hill  of  Edinburgh.  The  last  of  these  was  a 
9  zealous,  constant  preacher  ;   which  was  a  rare  thing  in  those 

days.  His  diocesan,  the  bishop  of  Dunkeld,  sent  for  him,  and 
rebuked  him  for  it,  and  bid  him,  when  he  found  a  good  Epistle, 
or  good  Gospel,  that  made  for  the  liberties  of  the  holy  church, 
to  preach  on  that,  and  let  the  rest  alone.  The  good  man 
answered,  he  had  read  both  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New ; 
and  never  found  an  ill  Epistle,  or  ill  Gospel,  in  any  of  them. 
The  bishop  replied,  that  he  thanked  God  he  had  lived  well 
these  many  years,  and  never  knew  either  the  Old  or  Neiu  :  he 

[ibid.         contented  himself  ivith  his  portuise  and  his  pontifical;  and 
r-  67-] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  491 

if  the  other  would  trouble  himself  with  these  fantasies,  he 
would  repent  it  when  he  could  not  help  it.  Forrest  said,  he 
was  resolved  to  do  ivhat  he  conceived  was  his  duty,  whatever 
might  be  the  danger  of  it.  By  this  it  appears,  how  delibe- 
rately the  clergy  at  that  time  delivered  themselves  up  to 
ignorance  and  superstition. 

In  the  same  year  Russell,  a  Franciscan  friar,  and  one  Ken-  Two  other 
ncdy,  a  young  man  of  eighteen  years  of  age,  were  brought  rib^8' 
before  the  archbishop  of  Glasgow.  That  bishop  was  a  learned  P-  67-] 
and  moderate  man,  and  was  much  against  these  cruel  proceed- 
ings ;  he  was  also  in  great  credit  with  the  king,  having  been 
his  tutor.  Yet  he  was  forced,  by  the  threatenings  of  his  bre- 
thren, to  go  on  with  the  persecution.  So  those  two,  Russell 
and  Kennedy,  being  brought  before  him,  Kennedy,  that  was 
young  and  fearful,  had  resolved  to  submit  and  abjure ;  but, 
being  brought  to  the  bar,  and  encouraged  by  Russell's  dis- 
courses, he  felt  so  high  a  measure  of  courage  and  joy  in  his 
heart,  that  he  fell  down  on  his  knees,  and  broke  forth  in  these 
words :  "  Wonderful,  0  God,  is  thy  love  and  mercy  towards 
"  me,  a  miserable  wretch  !  for  now,  when  I  would  have  denied 
"  thee,  and  thy  Son  my  Saviour,  thou  hast  by  thine  own  hand 
"  pulled  me  back  from  the  bottom  of  hell,  and  given  me  most 
"  heavenly  comfort,  which  hath  removed  the  ungodly  fear  that 
"  before  oppressed  my  mind.  Now  I  defy  death  ;  do  what 
"  you  please;  I  thank  God  I  am  ready."'  There  followed  a 
long  dispute  between  the  friar  and  the  divines  that  sat  with 
the  archbishop ;  but  when  ho  perceived  they  would  hear  no- 
thing, and  answered  him  only  with  rcvilings  and  jeers,  he  gave 
it  over,  and  concluded  in  these  words :  "  This  is  your  hour, 
"  and  power  of  darkness :  now  you  sit  as  judges,  and  we  stand 
"  wrongfully  condemned :  but  the  clay  cometh  which  will  shew 
"  our  innocence,  and  you  shall  see  your  own  blindness  to  your 
"  everlasting  confusion  :  go  on,  and  fulfil  the  measure  of  your 
"  iniquity.1''  This  put  the  archbishop  in  great  confusion,  so 
that  he  said  to  those  about  him,  that  these  rigorous  execu- 
tions did  hurt  the  cause  of  the  church  more  than  could  wrcll  be 
thought  of;  and  he  declared  that  his  opinion  was,  that  their 
lives  should  be  spared,  and  some  other  course  taken  with  them. 
But  those  that  sat  with  him  said,  if  he  took  a  course  different 
from   what    the    other    prelates    had    taken,  he   was  not    the 


492  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

church's  friend.  This,  with  other  threatening  expressions,  311 
prevailed  so  far  on  his  fears,  that  he  gave  judgment.  So  they 
were  burnt :  but  at  their  death  they  expressed  so  much  con- 
stancy and  joy,  that  the  people  were  much  wrought  on  by 
their  behaviour.  Russell  encouraged  Kennedy,  his  partner  in 
sufferings,  in  these  words :  "  Fear  not,  brother,  for  he  is  more 
"  mighty  that  is  in  us,  than  he  that  is  in  the  world.  The 
"  pain  which  we  shall  suffer  is  short  and  light ;  but  our  joy 
"  and  consolation  shall  never  have  an  end.  Death  cannot 
"  destroy  us,  for  it  is  destroyed  already  by  him,  for  whose 
"  sake  we  suffer.  Therefore  let  us  strive  to  enter  in  by  the 
"  same  strait  way,  which  our  Saviour  hath  taken  before  us." 
With  the  blood  of  such  martyrs  was  the  field  of  that  church 
sown,  which  did  quickly  rise  up  in  a  plentiful  harvest. 

Among  those  that  were  at  this  time  in  hazard,  George 
Buchanan  was  one.  The  clergy  were  resolved  to  be  revenged 
on  him  for  the  sharpness  of  the  poems  he  had  written  against 
them.  And  the  king  had  so  absolutely  left  all  men  to  their 
mercy,  that  he  had  died  with  the  rest,  if  he  had  not  made  his 
escape  out  of  prison :  then  he  went  beyond  sea,  and  lived 
twenty  years  in  that  exile,  and  was  forced  to  teach  a  school 
most  part  of  the  time  ;  yet  the  greatness  of  his  mind  was  not 
oppressed  with  that  mean  employment.  In  his  writings  there 
appears,  not  only  all  the  beauty  and  graces  of  the  Latin 
tongue,  but  a  vigour  of  mind,  and  quickness  of  thought,  far 
beyond  Bembo,  or  the  other  Italians,  who  at  that  time  affected 
to  revive  the  purity  of  the  Roman  style.  It  was  but  a  feeble 
imitation  of  Tully  in  them  ;  but  his  style  is  so  natural  and 
nervous,  and  his  reflections  on  things  are  so  solid,  (besides  his 
immortal  poems,  in  which  he  shews  how  well  he  could  imitate 
all  the  Roman  poets  in  their  several  ways  of  writing,  that  he 
who  compares  them  will  be  often  tempted  to  prefer  the  copy 
to  the  original,)  that  he  is  justly  reckoned  the  greatest  and 
best  of  our  modern  authors.  This  was  the  state  of  affairs  at 
this  time  in  Scotland.  And  so  I  shall  leave  this  digression; 
on  which  if  I  have  stayed  too  long,  my  kindness  to  my  native 
country  must  be  my  excuse :  and  now  I  return  to  the  affairs 
of  England. 

[Herbert,        The  king  went  his  progress  with  his  fair  and  beloved  queen; 

?•  530J      ant^  wnen  ]ie  came  to  York,  he  issued  out  a  proclamation. 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  493 

"  that  all  who  had  been  aggrieved  for  want  of  justice,  by  any 
"  whom  he  had  formerly  employed,  should  come  to  him  and 
"  his  council  for  redress."  This  was  done  to  cast  all  past  mis- 
carriages on  Cromwell,  and  to  put  the  people  in  hopes  of  better 
times.  But,  upon  his  return  to  London,  he  met  with  a  new 
affliction.  He  was  so  much  taken  with  his  queen,  that,  on 
All-Saints  day,  when  he  received  the  sacrament,  he  openly 
gave  God  thanks  for  the  good  life  he  led,  and  trusted  still  to 
lead  with  her;  and  desired  his  ghostly  father  to  join  with  him. 
in  the  same  thanksgiving  to  God.  But  this  joy  lasted  not 
long ;  for  the  next  day  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  came  to 
him,  and  gave  him  a  doleful  account  of  the  queen's  ill  life,  as 
it  had  been  brought  him  by  one  John  Lascelles  :  who,  when 
the  king  was  in  his  progress,  had  told  him,  that  his  sister,  who 
had  been  an  old  servant  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk's,  under  whose 
care  the  queen  was  brought  up,  said  to  him,  that  the  queen 
was  lewd,  and  that  one  Francis  Dereham  had  enjoyed  her 
often ;  as  also  one  Mannock ;  with  other  foul  circumstances, 
not  fit  to  be  related.  The  archbishop  communicated  it  to  the  [Herbert, 
312  lord  chancellor,  and  the  other  privy  counsellors  that  were  at  p-  533^ 
London.  They  agreed,  that  the  archbishop  should  open  it  to 
the  king.  But  he,  not  knowing  how  to  do  it  in  discourse,  set 
it  down  it  writing,  and  put  it  in  the  king's  hands.  When  the  The 
king  read  it,  he  seemed  much  perplexed;  but  loved  the  queen  ^nife'L 
so  tenderly,  that  he  looked  on  it  as  a  forgery.  And  now  the  discovered; 
archbishop  was  in  extreme  danger;  for  if  full  evidence  had 
not  been  brought,  it  had  been  certainly  turned  on  him  to  his 
ruin.  The  king  imparted  it  to  some  other  counsellors,  and 
told  them,  that  he  could  not  believe  it ;  yet  he  would  try  it 
out,  but  with  all  possible  secresy.  So  the  lord  privy  seal  was 
sent  to  London  to  examine  Lascelles,  who  stood  to  what  he 
had  informed.  Then  he  sent  that  same  lord  into  Sussex,  where 
Lascelles'  sister  lived,  to  try  if  she  would  justify  what  her 
brother  had  reported  in  her  name.  And  she  owning  it,  he 
ordered  Dereham  and  Mannock  to  be  arrested  upon  some 
other  pretences ;  but  they,  being  examined,  not  only  confessed 
what  was  informed,  but  revealed  some  other  circumstances, 
that  shewed  the  queen  had  laid  aside  all  sense  of  modesty,  as 
well  as  the  fear  of  a  discovery ;  three  several  women  having 


494 


THE   HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Ibid. 

P-  534-] 


And  con- 
fessed by 
herself  and 
others. 
[Ibid. 
P-  535-] 


1542 

A  new  par- 
liament 
called. 
[Journals 
of  Lords, 
p.  171.] 


been  witnesses  to  these  her  lewd  practices.  The  report  of 
that  struck  the  king  into  a  most  profound  pensiveness,  and  he 
burst  out  into  tears,  and  lamented  his  misfortune.  The  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  some  oilier  counsellors,  were  sent 
to  examine  the  queen.  She  at  first  denied  every  thing ;  but 
when  she  perceived  it  was  already  known,  she  confessed  all, 
and  set  it  under  her  hand.  There  were  also  evident  presump- 
tions that  she  had  intended  to  continue  that  course  of  life :  for, 
^s  she  had  got  Dereham  into  her  service,  so  she  had  brought 
one  of  the  women,  who  had  been  formerly  privy  to  their  fami- 
liarities, to  serve  about  her  bedchamber.  One  Culpcper  was 
also  charged  upon  vehement  suspicion :  for,  when  the  king 
was  at  Lincoln,  by  the  lady  Rochford's  means  he  was  brought 
into  the  queen's  chamber  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  night,  and 
stayed  there  till  four  the  next  morning.  The  queen  also  gave 
him  a  gold  chain,  and  a  rich  cap.  He,  being  examined,  con- 
fessed the  crime ;  for  which  both  Dereham  and  he  suffered. 
Others  were  also  indicted  of  misprision  of  treason,  and  con- 
demned to  perpetual  imprisonment.  But  this  occasioned  a  new 
parliament  to  be  summoned. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  January  the  parliament  met ;  to  which 
the  bishops  of  Westminster,  Chester,  Peterborough,  and  Glou- 
cester, had  their  writs.  The  lord  Cromwell  also  had  his  writ, 
though  I  do  not  find  by  any  record  that  he  was  restored  in 
blood91.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  January,  the  lord  chancellor 
moved  the  house  of  lords  to  consider  the  case  the  king  was  in 
by  the  queen's  ill  carriage  ;  and,  that  there  might  be  no  ground 
of  suspicion  or  complaint,  he  proposed,  that  some  of  their 
number  should  be  sent  to  examine  the  queen.  Whereupon 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  the  earl  of 
Southampton,  and  the  bishop  of  Westminster,  were  sent  to 


91  It  was  not  necessary  to  restore 
the  lord  Cromwell  in  blood,  for  he 
was  made  a  baron  when  his  father 
was  made  an  earl,  so  that  his  blood 
was  not  corrupted  by  his  father's 
attainder.    [F<] 

He  had  his  writ  not  by  virtue  of 
any  restoration  in  blood,  but  of  his 
creation  by  patent.  Neither  the  day 
his  father  was  created  earl,  as  Mr. 


Fulman  hath  it,  following  Dr.  Fuller, 
but  five  months  after  his  father's 
death,  viz.  the  eighteenth  of  Decem- 
ber, in  the  thirty-second  of  Henry 
the  Eighth,  when  he  was  created 
baron  of  this  realm  by  the  title  only 
of  lord  Cromwell,  but  not  distin- 
guished by  any  place.  Vide  sirW. 
Dugdale's  History  of  the  Baronage. 
[G.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1542.)  495 

her.  How  much  she  confessed  to  them  is  not  very  clear, 
neither  by  the  journal  nor  the  act  of  parliament  ;  which  only 
says,  that  she  confessed,  without  mentioning  the  particulars. 
Upon  this,  the  processes  of  those  that  had  been  formerly 
attainted  being  also  brought  as  an  evidence,  the  act  passed  in 
both  houses.  In  it  they  petitioned  the  king, 
313      "  First,  Not  to  be  troubled  at  the  matter,  since  that  might  The  act 

,,  ,  ,        ,  t  •     i>n  about  the 

"  be  a  means  to  shorten  Ins  hie.  queen. 

"  Secondly,  To  pardon  every  thing  that  had  been  spoken  [Statutes, 
"  against  the  queen.  p.  857.] 

"  Thirdly,  That  the  queen  and  her  complices  might  be 
"  attainted  of  high  treason,  for  her  taking  Dereham  into  her 
"  service ;  and  another  woman  into  her  chamber,  who  had 
"  known  their  former  ill  life  ;  by  which  it  appeared  what  she 
"  intended  to  do  :  and  then  admitting  Culpeper  to  be  so  long 
"  with  her  in  a  vile  place,  so  many  hours  in  the  night. 
"  Therefore  it  is  desired,  that  she  and  they,  with  the  bawd, 
"  the  lady  Rochford,  may  be  attainted  of  treason ;  and  that 
"  the  queen  and  the  lady  Rochford  should  suffer  the  pains  of 
"  death. 

"  Fourthly,  That  the  king  would  not  trouble  himself  to  give 
"  his  assent  to  this  act  in  his  own  person,  but  grant  it  by  his 
"  letters  patents  under  his  hand  and  great  seal. 

"  Fifthly,  That  the  duchess  dowager  of  Norfolk,  countess  of 
"  Bridgwater,  the  lord  William  Howard  and  his  lady,  the  four 
"  other  men,  and  five  women,  who  were  already  attainted  by 
"  the  course  of  common  law,  (except  the  duchess  of  Norfolk, 
"  and  the  countess  of  Bridgwater,)  that  knew  the  queen's 
"  vicious  life,  and  had  concealed  it,  should  be  all  attainted 
"  of  misprision  of  treason." 

It  was  also  enacted,  "  That  whosoever  knew  any  thing  of 
"  the  incontinence  of  the  queen,  (for  the  time  being,)  should 
"  reveal  it  with  all  possible  speed,  under  the  pains  of  treason. 
"  And  that,  if  the  king  or  his  successors  should  intend  to  marry 
"  any  woman,  whom  they  took  to  be  a  pure  and  clean  maid  ; 
"  if  she,  not  being  so,  did  not  declare  the  same  to  the  king,  it 
"  should  be  high  treason  ;  and  all  who  knew  it,  and  did  not 
"  reveal  it,  were  guilty  of  misprision  of  treason.  And  if  the 
"  queen,  or  the  prince's  wife,  should  procure  any,  by  messages 
"  or  words,  to  know  her  carnally  ;    or  any  other,  by  messages 


496  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  or  words,  should  solicit  them  ;    they,  their  counsellors,  and 
"  abettors,  are  to  be  adjudged  high  traitors." 
Censures         This  act  being  assented  to  bj  the  king's  letters  patents, 
orfit.  the  queen  and  the  lady  Rochford  were  beheaded  on  Tower- 

[Feb.  13.      liill  the  twelfth  of  Feburary92.     The  queen  confessed  the  mis- 
843.]  carriages  of  her  former  life,  before  the  king  married  her  :   but 

stood  absolutely  to  her  denial,  as  to  any  thing  after  that :  and 
protested  to  Dr.  White,  afterwards  bishop  of  Winchester,  that 
she  took  God  and  his  angels  to  be  her  witnesses,  upon  the  sal- 
vation of  her  soul,  that  she  was  guiltless  of  that  act  of  defiling 
her  sovereign's  bed,  for  which  she  was  condemned.  Yet  the 
lasciviousness  of  her  former  life  made  people  incline  to  believe 
any  ill  thing  that  could  be  reported  of  her.  But  for  the  lady 
Rochford,  every  body  observed  God's  justice  on  her  ;  who  had 
the  chief  hand  both  in  queen  Anne  Boleyn's  and  her  own 
husband's  death  :  and  it  now  appearing  so  evidently  what  sort  of 
woman  she  was,  it  tended  much  to  raise  their  reputations  again, 
in  whose  fall  her  spite  and  other  artifices  had  so  great  a  hand. 
She  had  been  a  lady  of  the  bedchamber  to  the  last  four  queens  : 
but  now  it  was  found  how  unworthy  she  was  of  that  trust. 

It  was  thought  extreme  cruelty  to  bo  so  severe  to  the  queen's  314 
kindred  for  not  discovering  her  former  ill  life :  since  the 
making  such  a  discovery  had  been  inconsistent  with  the  rules 
of  justice  or  decency.  The  old  duchess  of  Norfolk,  being 
her  grandmother,  had  bred  her  of  a  child  ;  and  it  was  said, 
for  her  to  have  gone  and  told  the  king,  that  she  was  a  whore, 
when  he  intended  to  marry  her,  as  it  was  an  unheard-of  thing, 
so  the  not  doing  of  it  could  not  have  drawn  so  severe  a  punish- 
ment from  any  but  a  prince  of  that  king's  temper.  But  the 
king  pardoned  her,  and  most  of  the  rest ;  though  some  con- 
tinued in  prison  after  the  rest  were  discharged. 

But  for  the  other  part  of  this  act,  obliging  a  woman  to 
reveal  her    own   former   incontinence,   if  the   king   intended 

[Herbert,    to  marry  her,  (which,  by  a  mistake,  the  lord  Herbert  says, 

p-  536. 

Hall,  p.  92  [This  date  is  given  by  Stow,  the  act  read  and  his  assent  declared, 

p.  583.      Hall,   p.   843,    says,   '  On  And  so,  on  the  thirteenth  day,  these 

Saturday  the  eleventh  day  of  Febra-  two  ladies   were  beheaded  on  the 

ary,  the  king  sent  his  royal  assent  green  within  the  Tower  with  an  axe, 

by  his  great  seal,  and  then  all  the  and    confessed    their   offences   and 

lords  were  in  their  robes  and  the  died  repentant.'] 
common  house  called  up,  and  there 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1542.)  497 

was  passed  in  another  act,  taking  it  from  Hall93,  and  not 
looking  into  the  record;)  it  was  thought  a  piece  of  grievous 
tyranny  :   since  if  a  king,  especially  one  of  so  imperious  a 
temper  as  this  was,  should  design  such  an  honour  to  any  of  his 
subjects,  who  had  failed  in  their  former  life,  they  must  either 
defame  themselves,  by  publishing  so  disgraceful  a  secret,  or 
run  the  hazard  of  being  afterwards  attainted  of  treason.    Upon 
this,  those  that  took  an  indiscreet  liberty  to  rally  that  sex 
unjustly  and  severely,  said,  the  king  could  induce  none  that  was  [Cap.  12. 
reputed  a  maid  to  marry  him  :  so  that  not  so  much  choice,  as  Statutes> 
necessity,  put  him  on  marrying  a  widow  about  two  years  after  p.  19 ;  and 
this.     But  this  part  of  the  act  was  afterwards  repealed  in  the  I.    ^  i^j 
first  parliament  of  king  Edward  the  Sixth.  p.  198.] 

There  passed  another  act  in  this  parliament,  that  made  way  ^ct  ?-b°ut 
for  the  dissolution  of  colleges,  hospitals,  and  other  foundations  &c  [cap. 
of  that  nature.     The  courtiers  had  been  practising  with  the27,'  ■••1  ' 

i  o  vol.  111. 

presidents  and  governors  of  some  of  these,  to  make  resignations  p-  867.] 
of  them  to  the  king  ;  which  were  conceived  in  the  same  style 
that  most  of  the  surrenders  of  monasteries  did  run  in.  Eight 
of  these  were  all  really  procured,  which  are  enrolled  :  but  they 
could  not  make  any  great  progress,  because  it  was  provided  by 
the  local  statutes  of  most  of  them,  that  no  president,  or  any 
other  fellows,  could  make  any  such  deed,  without  the  consent 
of  all  the  fellows  in  the  house  ;  and  this  could  not  be  so  easily 
obtained.  Therefore  all  such  statutes  were  annulled,  and  none 
were  any  more  to  be  sworn  to  the  observation  of  them. 

In  the  convocation  that   sat  at  that  time,  which,  as  was  The  papists 
formerly  observed91,  Fuller  mistakes  for  the  convocation  in  the  deslgnto 

n  c  1      •  suppress 

thirty-first  year  of  this  king ;  the  translation  of  the  Bible  was  the  English 
brought  under  examination,   and  many  of  the  bishops  were  S^. 
appointed  to  peruse  it :    for  it  seems  complaints  were  brought  Cone.  iii. 
against  it.     It  was  certainly  the  greatest  eyesore  of  the  popish  '*'    ' 
party  ;  and  that  which  they  knew  would  most  effectually  beat 
down  all  their  projects.    But  there  was  no  opposing  it  directly, 
for  the  king  was  fully  resolved  to  go  through  with  it.     There- 
fore the  way  they  took  was,  once  to  load  the  translation  then 
set  out  with  as  many  faults  as  they  could  ;  and  so  to  get  it  first 
condemned,  and  then  to  promise  a  new  one :  in  the  making 

93  [The  reference  to  Hall  is  for         94  [Vide  supra,  p.  286.] 
the  date  February  13.] 

BURNET,  PART  I.  K  lv 


498  THE    HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

and  publishing  of  which  it  would  be  easy  to  breed  many  delays. 
But  Gardiner  had  another  singular  conceit :  he  fancied  there 
were  many  words  in  the  New  Testament  of  such  majesty,  that 
they  were  not  to  be  translated ;  but  must  stand  in  the  English 
Bible  as  they  were  in  the  Latin.  A  hundred  of  these  he  put  315 
into  a  writing,  which  was  read  in  convocation.  His  design  in 
this  was  visible ;  that  if  a  translation  must  be  made,  it  should 
be  so  daubed  all  through  with  Latin  words,  that  the  people 
should  not  understand  it  much  the  better  for  its  being  in 
English.  A  taste  of  this  the  reader  may  have  by  the  first 
twenty  of  them94  :  ecclesia,  pcenitentia,  pontifex,  ancilla, 
contritus,  olocausta.  justitia,  justificatio,  idiota,  elementa, 
baptizare,  martyr,  adorare,  sandalium,  simplex,  tetrarcha, 
sacramentum,  simulacrum,  gloria.  The  design  he  had  of 
keeping  some  of  these,  particularly  the  last  save  one,  is  plain 
enough  ;  that  the  people  might  not  discover  that  visible  oppo- 
sition, which  was  between  the  scriptures  and  the  Roman  church, 
in  the  matter  of  images.  This  could  not  be  better  palliated 
than  by  disguising  these  places  with  words  that  the  people 
understood  not.  How  this  was  received,  Fuller  has  not  told 
us.  But  it  seems  Oranmer  found,  that  the  bishops  were 
resolved,  either  to  condemn  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  or  to 
proceed  so  slowly  in  it,  that  it  should  come  to  nothing :  there- 
fore he  moved  the  king  to  refer  the  perusing  of  it  to  the  two 
universities.  The  bishops  took  this  very  ill,  when  Cranmer 
intimated  it  to  them  in  the  king's  name  ;  and  objected,  that  the 
learning  of  the  universities  was  much  decayed  of  late ;  and  that 
the  two  houses  of  convocation  were  the  more  proper  judges  of 
that,  where  the  learning  of  the  land  was  chiefly  gathered 
together.  But  the  archbishop  said  he  would  stick  close  to  the 
king's  pleasure,  and  that  the  universities  should  examine  it. 
Upon  which,  all  the  bishops  of  his  province,  except  Ely  and 

[ibid.  p.      St.  David's,  protested  against  it ;  and  soon  after  the  convocation 

862.]  was  dissolved. 

Bonner's         Not  long  after  this,  I  find  Bonner  made  some  Injunctions  for 

Injunc-       ]iis  clergy ;  which  have  a  strain  in  them  so  far  different  from 
the  rest  of  his  life,  that  it  is  more  probable  they  were  drawn 

1,5  [The  number  of  words  is  only     and  sandalium  and  has  substituted 
nineteen.     The  author  has  omitted     justificatio  for  justificare. 
the  word  dignus  between   adorare 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1542.)  499 

by  another  pen,  and  imposed  on  Bonner  by  an  order  from  the 
king.  They  were  set  out  in  the  thirty -fourth  year  of  the 
king's  reign ;  but  the  time  of  the  year  is  not  expressed.  The 
reader  will  find  them  in  the  Collection  at  their  full  length  :  the  Collect. 

,     ,  P  .,  .  Numb.  26. 

substance  01  them  is ; 

"  First,  That  all  should  observe  the  king's  Injunctions. 

"  Secondly,  That  every  clergyman  should  read  and  study  a 
"  chapter  of  the  Bible  every  day,  with  the  exposition  of  the 
"  gloss,  or  some  approved  doctor  ;  which  having  once  studied, 
"  they  should  retain  it  in  their  memories,  and  bo  ready  to  give 
"  an  account  of  it  to  him,  or  any  whom  he  should  appoint. 

"  Thirdly,  That  they  should  study  the  book  set  forth  by  the 
"  bishops,  of  the  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man. 

"  Fourthly,  That  such  as  did  not  reside  in  their  benefices 
"  should  bring  their  curates  to  him,  or  his  officers,  to  be  tried. 

"  Fifthly,  That  they  should  often  exhort  their  parishioners 
"  to  make  no  private  contracts  of  marriage. 

"  Sixthly,  That  they  should  marry  none  who  were  married 
"  before,  till  they  were  sufficiently  assured  that  the  former 
"  husband  or  wife  were  dead. 

"  Seventhly,  That  they  should  instruct  the  children  of  their 
"  several  parishes  ;  and  teach  them  to  read  English,  that  they 
"  might  know  how  to  believe,  and  pray,  and  live  according  to 
"  the  will  of  God. 
31 G  "  Eightly,  That  they  should  reconcile  all  that  were  in  enmity, 
"  and  in  that  be  a  good  example  to  others. 

"  Ninthly,  That  none  should  receive  the  communion  who  did 
"  not  confess  to  their  own  curates. 

"  Tenthly,  That  none  should  be  suffered  to  go  to  taverns,  or 
"  alehouses,  and  use  unlawful  games  on  Sundays,  or  holydays, 
"  in  time  of  divine  service. 

"  Eleventhly,  That  twice  every  quarter  they  should  declare 
"  the  seven  deadly  sins,  and  the  Ten  Commandments. 

"  Twelfthly,  That  no  priest  should  go  but  in  his  habit. 

"  Thirteenthly,  That  no  priest  should  be  admitted  to  say 
"  mass,  without  shewing  his  letters  of  orders  to  the  bishop  or 
"  his  officers. 

"  Fourteenthly,  That  they  should  instruct  the  people  to 
"  beware  of  blasphemy,  or  swearing  by  any  parts  of  Christ's 
"  body ;  and  to  abstain  from  scolding  and  slandering,  adultery, 

k  k  2 


500 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


The  man- 
ner of 
preaching 
at  that 
time. 


"  fornication,  gluttony,  or  drunkenness  ;  and  that  they  should 
"  present  at  the  next  visitation  those  who  were  guilty  of  these 
"  sins. 

"  Fifteenthly,  That  no  priest  should  use  unlawful  games,  or 
"  go  to  alehouses  or  taverns,  but  upon  an  urgent  necessity. 

"  Sixteenthly,  No  plays  or  interludes  to  be  acted  in  the 
"  churches. 

"  Seventeenthly,  That  there  should  be  no  sermons  preached, 
"  that  had  been  made  within  these  two  hundred  or  three 
"  hundred  years.  But  when  they  preached,  they  should  ex- 
"  plain  the  whole  Gospel  and  Epistle  for  the  day,  according  to 
"  the  mind  of  some  good  doctor  allowed  by  the  church  of 
"  England ;  and  chiefly  to  insist  on  those  places  that  might 
"  stir  up  the  people  to  good  works,  and  to  prayer  ;  and  to 
"  explain  the  use  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  church.  That  there 
"  should  be  no  railing  in  sermons ;  but  the  preacher  should 
"  calmly  and  discreetly  set  forth  the  excellencies  of  virtue,  and 
"  the  vileness  of  sin ;  and  should  also  explain  the  prayers  for 
"  that  day,  that  so  the  people  might  pray  with  one  heart ;  and 
"  should  teach  them  the  use  of  the  sacraments,  particularly  of 
"  the  mass  ;  but  should  avoid  the  reciting  of  fables,  or  stories, 
"  for  which  no  good  writer  could  be  vouched ;  and  that,  when 
"  the  sermon  was  ended,  the  preacher  should  in  few  words  re- 
"  sume  the  substance  of  it.*-*" 

"  Eighteenthly,  That  none  be  suffered  to  preach,  under  the 
"  degree  of  a  bishop,  who  had  not  obtained  a  license,  either 
"  from  the  king,  or  him  their  ordinary." 

These  Injunctions,  especially  when  they  are  considered  at 
their  full  length,  will  give  great  light  into  the  temper  of  men 
at  that  time ;  and  particularly  inform  us  of  the  design  and 
method  in  preaching,  as  it  was  then  set  forward :  concerning 
which  the  reader  will  not  be  ill  pleased  to  receive  some  in- 
formation. In  the  time  of  popery  there  had  been  few  sermons 
but  in  Lent ;  for  their  discourses  on  the  holydays  were  rather 
panegyrics  on  the  saint,  or  the  vain  magnifying  of  some  of 
their  relics,  which  wrere  laid  up  in  such  or  such  places.  In 
Lent  there  was  a  more  solemn  and  serious  way  of  preaching  ; 
and  the  friars,  who  chiefly  maintained  their  credit  by  their 
performances  at  that  time,  used  all  the  force  of  their  skill  and 
industry  to  raise  the  people  into  heats,  by  passionate  and  af- 


book  in.]  THE    REFORMATION.    (1542.)  501 

fecting  discourses.      Yet  these  generally  tended  to  raise  the 
317  value  of  some  of  the  laws  of  the  church  ;  such  as  abstinence  at 
that  time,  confession,  with  other  corporal  severities :  or  some 
of  the  little  devices,  that  both  inflamed  a  blind  devotion,  and 
drew  money ;    such  as  indulgences,   pilgrimages,   or  the  en- 
riching the  shrines  and  relics  of  the  saints.     But  there  was 
not  that  pains  taken  to  inform  the  people  of  the  hatefulness  of 
vice,  and  the  excellency  of  holiness,  or  of  the  wonderful  love  of 
Christ,  by  which  men  might  be  engaged  to  acknowledge  and 
obey  him.     And  the  design  of  their  sermons  was  rather  to 
raise  a  present  heat,  which  they   knew  afterwards  how  to 
manage,   than  to  work  a  real  reformation  on  their  hearers. 
They  had  also  intermixed  with  all  divine  truths  so  many  fables, 
that  they  were  become  very  extravagant ;  and  that  alloy  had 
so  embased  the  whole,  that  there  was  great  need  of  a  good 
discerning  to  deliver  people  from  those  prejudices  which  these 
mixtures  brought  upon  the  whole  Christian  doctrine.     There- 
fore the  reformers  studied  with  all  possible  care  to  instruct  the 
people  in  the  fundamentals  of  Christianity,  with  which  they 
had  been  so  little  acquainted.     From  hence  it  came,  that  the 
people  ran  after  those  new  preachers  with  wonderful  zeal.     It 
is  true,  there  seem  to  be  very  foul  and  indiscreet  reflections  on 
the  other  party,  in  some  of  their  sermons :  but  if  any  have 
applied  themselves  much  to  observe  what  sort  of  men  the  friars 
and  the  rest  of  the  popish  clergy  were  at  that  time,  they  shall 
find  great  excuses  of  those  heats.     And  as  our  Saviour  laid 
open  the  hypocrisies  and  impostures  of  the  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, in  a  style  which  such  corruptions  extorted ;  so  there  was 
great  cause  given  to  treat  them  very  roughly  ;  though  it  is  n#t 
to  be  denied,  but  those  preachers  had  some  mixtures  of  their 
own  resentments,  for  the  cruelties  and  ill  usage  which  they 
received  from  them.     But  now  that  the  reformation  made  a 
greater   progress,    much    pains    was   taken   to    send   eminent 
preachers  over  the  nation ;   not  confining  them  to  particular 
charges,  but  sending  them  with  the  king's  license  up  and  down 
to  many  places.     Many  of  these  licenses  are  enrolled,  and  it  is 
likely  that  many  were  granted  that  were  not  so  carefully  pre- 
served.     But  provision  was  also  made  for  people's  daily  in- 
struction :  and  because,  in  that  ignorant  time,  there  could  not 
be  found  a  sufficient  number  of  good  preachers,  and,  in  a  time 


502  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

of  so  much  juggling,  they  would  not  trust  the  instruction  of 
the  people  to  every  one  :  therefore  none  was  to  preach,  except 
he  had  gotten  a  particular  license  for  it  from  the  king,  or  his 
diocesan.  But,  to  qualify  this,  a  book  of  Homilies  was  printed, 
in  which  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  of  all  the  Sundays  and  holy- 
days  of  the  year  were  set  down,  with  an  homily  to  every  one 
of  these,  which  is  a  plain  and  practical  paraphrase  on  these 
parcels  of  scripture.  To  these  are  added,  many  serious  ex- 
hortations, and  some  short  explanations  of  the  most  obvious 
difficulties,  that  shew  the  compiler  of  them  was  a  man  both  of 
good  judgment  and  learning.  To  these  were  also  added,  ser- 
mons upon  several  occasions ;  as  for  weddings,  christenings, 
and  funerals ;  and  these  were  to  be  read  to  the  people  by  such 
as  were  not  licensed  to  preach.  But  those  who  were  licensed 
to  preach,  being  oft  accused  for  their  sermons,  and  complaints 
being  made  to  the  king  by  hot  men  on  both  sides,  they  came 
generally  to  write  and  read  their  sermons.  From  thence  the 
reading  of  sermons  grew  into  a  practice  in  this  church  ;  in 
which,  if  there  was  not  that  heat  and  fire  which  the  friars  had  318 
shewed  in  their  declamations,  so  that  the  passions  of  the  hearers 
were  not  so  much  wrought  on  by  it ;  yet  it  has  produced  the 
greatest  treasure  of  weighty,  grave,  and  solid  sermons,  that 
ever  the  church  of  God  had ;  which  does  in  a  great  measure 
compensate  that  seeming  flatness  to  vulgar  ears  that  is  in  the 
delivery  of  them. 

Plays  and        The  Injunctions  take  notice  of  another  thing,  which  the  sin- 
interludes         .„...,..  .  pii 
then  acted,  centy  ol  an  historian  obliges  me  to  give  an  account  or,  though 

it  was  indeed  the  greatest  blemish  of  that  time  :  these  were, 

tjie  stage-plays  and  interludes,  that  were  then  generally  acted, 

and  often  in  churches95.     They  were  representations  of  the 

corruptions  of  the  monks,  and  some  other  feats  of  the  popish 

clergy.     The  poems  were  ill-contrived,  and  worse  expressed  ; 

if  there  lies  not  some  hidden  wit  in  these  ballads,  (for  verses 

they  were  not,)  which  at  this  distance  is  lost.     But,  from  the 

95     Interludes    were     not     then  agree  with  it;  and  such  representa- 

brought  in    first   to  churches,   but  tions  are   yet  in  use  sometimes  in 

had  been  used  in  the  times  of  po-  the  Roman  church,  so  that  by  which 

pery,  the  greatest  part  of  their  re-  they  had   formerly  entertained   the 

ligion    being     placed    in    outward  people  was    now  turned  on   them- 

shows,  so  that  these  did  well  enough  selves.   [  F.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1542.)  503 

representing  the  immoralities  and  disorders  of  the  clergy,  they 
proceeded  to  act  the  pageantry  of  their  worship.  This  took 
with  the  people  much  ;  who,  being  provoked  by  the  mis- 
carriages and  cruelties  of  some  of  the  clergy,  were  not  ill 
pleased  to  see  them  and  their  religion  exposed  to  public  scorn. 
The  clergy  complained  much  of  this ;  and  said,  it  was  an  in- 
troduction to  atheism,  and  all  sort  of  irreligion  :  for  if  once 
they  began  to  mock  sacred  things,  no  stop  could  be  put  to  that 
petulant  humour.  The  grave  and  learned  sort  of  reformers 
disliked  and  condemned  these  courses,  as  not  suitable  to  the 
genius  of  true  religion  ;  but  the  political  men  of  that  party 
made  great  use  of  them,  encouraging  them  all  they  could  ;  for 
they  said,  contempt  being  the  most  operative  and  lasting  affec- 
tion of  the  mind,  nothing  would  more  effectually  drive  out 
many  of  those  abuses,  which  yet  remained,  than  to  expose 
them  to  the  contempt  and  scorn  of  the  people. 

In  the  end  of  this  year  a  war  broke  out  between  England  War  be- 
and  Scotland,  set  on  by  the  instigation  of  the  French  king ;  ^l  andg" 
who  was  also  beginning  to  be  an  uneasy  neighbour  to  those  of  Scotland. 
the  English  pale  about  Calais.     The  king  set  out  a  long  de-  [Herbert, 
claration,  in  which  he  very  largely  laid  out  the  pretensions  the  P'543'-1 
crown  of  England  had  to  an  homage  from  the  kings  of  Scot- 
land.    In  this  I  am  no  fit  person  to  interpose  ;   the  matter 
being  disputed  by  the  learned  men  of  both  nations.    The  Scots  [Ibid, 
said,  it  was  only  for  some  lands  their  kings  had  in  England,  p'  545'-' 
that  they  did  homage ;  as  the  kings  of  England  did  for  Nor- 
mandy and  Guienne,  to  the  kings  of  France.     But  the  English 
writers  cited  many  records,  to  shew  that  the  homage  was  done 
for  the  crown  of  Scotland.     To  this  the  Scots  replied,  that,  in 
the  invasion  of  Edward  the  First,  he  had  carried  away  all  their 
ancient  records ;  so,  these  being  lost,  they  could  only  appeal  to 
the  chronicles  that  lay  up  and  down  the  nation  in  their  monas- 
teries :  that  all  these  affirmed  the  contrary,  and  that  they  were 
a  free  kingdom  ;  till  Edward  the  First,  taking  advantage  of 
their  disputes  about  the  succession  to  their  crown,  upon  the 
death  of  Alexander  the  Third,  got  some  of  the  competitors  to 
lay  down  their  pretensions  at  his  feet,  and  to  promise  homage  : 
that  this  was  also  performed  by  John  Balliol,  whom  he  pre- 
ferred to  the  crown  of  Scotland ;  but  by  these  means  he  lost 
the  hearts  of  the  nation  ;  and  it  was  said,   that  this  act  of 


504  THE   HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

homage  could  not  give  away  the  rights  of  a  free  crown  and 
people.  And  they  said,  that  whatsoever  submissions  had  been 
made  since  that  time,  they  were  only  extorted  by  force  ;  as  the  319 
effects  of  victory  and  conquest,  but  gave  no  good  right,  nor 
just  title.  To  all  this  the  English  writers  answered,  that  these 
submissions  by  their  records  (which  were  the  solemn  instruments 
of  a  nation,  that  ought  never  to  be  called  in  question)  were 
sometimes  freely  made ;  and  not  by  the  kings  only,  but  by  the 
consent  of  their  states.  In  this  uncertainty  I  must  leave  it 
with  the  reader. 

But,  after  the  king  had  opened  this  pretension,  "  he  com- 
"  plained  of  the  disorders  committed  by  the  Scots  ;  of  the 
"  unkind  returns  he  had  met  with  from  their  king  for  his  care 
"  of  him  while  he  was  an  infant ;  taking  no  advantage  of  the 
"  confusions  in  which  that  kingdom  then  was,  but,  on  the  con- 
"  trary,  protecting  the  crown,  and  quieting  the  kingdom.  But 
"  that  of  late  many  depredations  and  acts  of  hostility  had  been 
"  committed  by  the  Scots ;  and  though  some  treaties  had  been 
"  begun,  they  were  managed  with  so  much  shuffling  and  incon- 
"  stancy,  that  the  king  must  now  try  it  by  war."  Yet  ho 
concluded  his  declaration  ambiguously,  neither  keeping  up  nor 
laying  down  his  pretensions  to  that  crown  ;  but  expressing 
them  in  such  a  manner,  that,  which  way  soever  the  success  of 
the  war  turned,  he  might  be  bound  up  to  nothing  by  what  he 
now  declared. 

But  whatsoever  justice  might  be  in  the  king's  title  or  quarrel, 

Duke  of      his  sword  was  much  the  sharper.    He  ordered  the  duke  of  Nor- 

inroad  into  f°lk  to  march  into  Scotland,  about  the  end  of  October,  Avith  an 

Scotland,     army  of  twenty  thousand  men.    Hall  tells  us,  they  burnt  many 

p.  850.]       towns  ;  and  names  them  :  but  these  were  only  single  houses,  or 

little  villages ;  and  the  best  town  he  names  is  Kelso,  which  is  a 

little  open  market-town.     Soon  after,  they  returned  back  into 

England :    whether,  after  they  had  spoiled  the  neighbouring 

country,  they  felt  the  inconveniences  of  the  season  of  the  year ; 

.     or  whether,  hearing  the  Scots  were  gathering,  they  had  no 

mind  to  <ro  too  far,  I  cannot  determine ;  for  the  writers  of  both 

nations  disagree  as  to  the  reason  of  their  speedy  return.     But 

any,   that  knows  the  country  they   spoiled,  and  where  they 

stopped,  must  conclude,  that  cither  they  had  secret  orders  only 

to  make  an  inroad,  and  destroy  some  places  that  lay  along  the 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (5542.)  505 

river  of  Tweed,  and  upon  the  border,  which  done,  without 
driving  the  breach  too  far,  to  retire  back  ;  or  they  must  have 
had  apprehensions  of  the  Scotch  armies  coming  to  lie  in  these 
moors  and  hills  of  Sautrey,  or  Lammer-Moor,  which  they  were 
to  pass  if  they  had  gone  further  :  and  there  were  about  ten 
thousand  men  brought  thither,  but  he  that  commanded  them 
was  much  blamed  for  doing  nothing ;  his  excuse  was,  that  his 
number  did  not  equal  theirs.  About  the  end  of  November, 
the  lord  Maxwell  brought  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men, 
together  with  a  train  of  artillery  of  twenty-four  pieces  of 
ordnance.  And  since  the  duke  of  Norfolk  had  retired  towards 
Berwick,  they  resolved  to  enter  England  on  the  western  side 
by  Sol  way  Frith.  The  king  went  thither  himself,  but  fatally 
left  the  army,  and  yet  was  not  many  miles  from  them  when 
they  wore  defeated.  The  truth  of  it  was,  that  king,  who  had 
hitherto  raised  the  greatest  expectation,  was  about  that  time 
disturbed  in  his  fancy,  thinking  that  he  saw  apparitions,  par- 
ticularly of  one,  whom,  it  was  said,  he  had  unjustly  put  to 
death  ;  so  that  he  could  not  rest,  nor  be  at  cmiet.  But  as  his 
leaving  the  army  was  ill  advised,  so  his  giving  a  commission  to 
Oliver  Sinclair,  that  was  his  minion,  to  command  in  chief,  did 
320  extremely  disgust  the  nobility.  They  loved  not  to  be  com- 
manded by  any  but  their  king,  and  were  already  weary  of  the 
insolence  of  that  favourite,  who,  being  but  of  ordinary  birth, 
was  despised  by  them  ;  so  that  they  were  beginning  to  sepa- 
rate. And  when  they  were  upon  that  occasion  in  great  dis-  The  Scot- 
order,  a  small  body  of  English,  not  above  five  hundred  horse,  ^^4"^ 
appeared:  but  they,  apprehending  it  was  the  duke  of  Norfolk's 
army,  refused  to  fight,  and  fell  in  confusion.  Many  prisoners 
were  taken,  the  chief  of  whom  were,  the  earls  of  Glencairn  and 
Cassillis,  the  lords  Maxwell,  Somerville,  Oliphant,  Gray,  and 
Oliver  Sinclair  ;  and  about  two  hundred  gentlemen,  and  eight 
hundred  soldiers  ;  and  all  the  ordnance  and  baggage  was  also 
taken.  The  news  of  this  being  brought  to  the  king  of  Scot- 
land, increased  his  former  disorders :  and,  some  few  days  after,  [Dec.  14.] 
he  died,  leaving  an  infant  daughter,  but  newly  born,  to  succeed 
him. 

The  lords  that  were  taken  prisoners  were  brought  to  Lon-  Many  pri- 
don  ;  where,  after  they  had  been  charged  in  council,  how  un-  !°?ers 
kindly  they  had  used  the  king,  they  were  put  in  the  keeping 


506  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

of  some  of  the  greatest  quality  about  court.  But  the  earl  of 
[Herbert,  Cassillis  had  the  best  luck  of  them  all ;  for  being  sent  to  Lam- 
bet!),  where  he  was  a  prisoner  upon  his  parole,  Cranmer  studied 
to  free  him  from  the  darkness  and  fetters  of  popery  :  in  which 
he  was  so  successful,  that  the  other  was  afterwards  a  great 
promoter  of  the  reformation  in  Scotland.  The  Scots  had  been 
hitherto  possessed  with  most  extraordinary  prejudices  against 
the  changes  that  had  been  made  in  England ;  which,  concurring 
with  the  ancient  animosities  between  the  two  nations,  had  raised 
a  wonderful  ill  opinion  of  the  king's  proceedings.  And  though 
the  bishop  of  St.  David's  (Barlow)  had  been  sent  into  Scotland 
with  the  book  of  the  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man,  to  clear 
these  ill  impressions  ;  yet  his  endeavours  were  unsuccessful. 
The  pope,  at  the  instance  of  the  French  king,  and  to  make 
that  kingdom  sure,  made  David  Beaton,  archbishop  of  St.  An- 
drew's, a  cardinal;  which  gave  him  great  authority  in  the 
kingdom  :  so  he,  with  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  diverted  the  king 
from  any  correspondence  with  England,  and  assured  him  of 
victory,  if  he  would  make  war  on  such  an  heretical  prince. 
The  clergy  also  offered  the  king  fifty  thousand  crowns  a  year 
towards  a  war  with  England ;  and  possessed  all  the  nation  with 
very  ill  thoughts  of  the  court  and  clergy  there.  But  the  lords 
that  were  now  prisoners  (chiefly  the  earl  of  Cassillis,  who  was 
best  instructed  by  his  religious  host)  conceived  a  better  opinion 
of  the  reformation,  and  carried  home  with  them  those  seeds  of 
knowledge,  which  produced  afterwards  a  very  fruitful  harvest. 
On  all  these  things  I  have  dwelt  the  longer,  that  it  might 
appear,  whence  the  inclination  of  the  Scottish  nobility  to  reform 
did  take  its  first  rise  ;  though  there  was  afterwards  in  the 
methods,  by  which  it  was  advanced,  too  great  a  mixture  of  the 
heat  and  forwardness  that  is  natural  to  the  genius  of  that 
country. 

When  the  news  of  the  king  of  Scotland's  death,  and  of  the 
[Dec.  7.]  young  queen's  birth,  that  succeeded  him,  came  to  the  court, 
the  king  thought  this  a  very  favourable  conjuncture  to  unite 
and  settle  the  whole  island.  But  that  unfortunate  princess 
was  not  born  under  such  happy  stars,  though  she  was  mother 
to  him,  in  whom  this  long-desired  union  took  effect.  The  lords 
that  were  then  prisoners  began  the  motion  ;  and  that  being  321 
told  the  king,  he  called  for  them  to  Hampton-Court,  in  the 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1543.)  507 

Christmas  time,  and  said,  Now  an  opportunity  was  put  in  their 
hands,  to  quiet  all  troubles  that  had  been  between  these  two 
crowns,  by  the  marriage  of  the  prince  of  Wales  to  their  young 
queen ;  in  which  he  desired  their  assistance,  and  gave  them 
their  liberty,  they  leaving  hostages  for  the  performance  of 
what  was  then  offered  by  them.  They  all  promised  their  con- 
currence, and  seemed  much  taken  with  the  greatness  of  the 
English  court,  which  the  king  always  kept  up,  not  without 
affectation ;  they  also  said,  they  thought  God  was  better  served 
there  than  in  their  own  country.  So  on  new-year's  day  they 
took  their  journey  towards  Scotland ;  but  the  sequel  of  this 
will  appear  afterwards. 

A  parliament  was  summoned  to  meet  the  two  and  twentieth      1543. 
of  January,  which  sat  till  the  twelfth  of  May.     So  the  session  ^a£1e<Jtpar" 
began  in  the  thirty-fourth,  and  ended  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  [Journals 
of  the  king's  reign;  from  whence  it  is  called  in  the  Records,         _•. ' 
the  parliament  of  the  thirty-fourth  and  thirty -fifth  year.   Here 
both  the  temporalty  and  spiritualty  gave  great  subsidies  to  the  [Cap.  25. 
king  of  six  shillings  in  the  pound,  to  be  paid  in  three  years.  voi  j^   ' 
They  set  forth  in  their  preambles,  "  the  expense  the  king  had  P-  938. 
"  been  at,  in  his  war  with  Scotland,  and  for  his  other  great  ibid, 
"and  urgent  occasions:"   by  which  was  meant,  a  war  withP-951-] 
France,  which  broke  out  the  following  summer.     But,   with 
these,  there  passed  other  two  acts  of  great  importance  to  re- 
ligion.    The  title  of  the  first  was,  An  act  for  the  advancement  [Cap.  1. 
of  true  religion,  and  abolishment  of  the  contrary.     The  king  1J1  ,p"  94 *-' 
was  now  entered  upon  a  war  ;  so  it  seemed  reasonable  to  qualify 
the  severity  of  the  late  acts  about  religion,  that  all  might  be 
quiet  at  home.     Cranmer  moved  it  first,  and  was  faintly  se-  Cranmer 
conded  by  the  bishops  of  Worcester,   Hereford,   Chichester,  in'°"10tes 

«/  1  'a  retorma- 

and  Rochester  ;  who  had  promised  to  stick  to  him  in  it.  At  tion. 
this  time  a  league  was  almost  finished  between  the  kino;  and 
the  emperor,  which  did  again  raise  the  spirits  of  the  popish 
faction.  They  had  been  much  cast  down  ever  since  the  last 
queen's  fall.  But  now  that  the  emperor  was  like  to  have  an 
interest  in  English  councils,  they  took  heart  again  ;  and  Gar- 
diner opposed  the  archbishop's  motion  with  all  possible  earnest- 
ness. And  that  whole  faction  fell  so  upon  it,  that  the  timorous 
bishops  not  only  forsook  Cranmer,  but  Heath  of  Rochester,  and 
Skip  of  Hereford,  were  very  earnest  with  him  to  stay  for  a 


508 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


An  act 
about  it. 
[Cap.  i. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii.  p 
894.] 


[Ibid.  P. 
895.] 


[Ibid,  p 
896.] 


better  opportunity :  but  he  generously  preferred  his  conscience 
to  those  arts  of  policy,  which  he  would  never  practise  ;  and 
said,  he  would  push  it  as  far  as  it  would  go.  So  he  plied  the 
king,  and  the  other  lords,  so  earnestly,  that  at  length  the  bill 
passed,  though  clogged  with  many  provisos,  and  very  much 
short  of  what  he  had  designed. 

The  preamble  set  forth,  "  That,  there  being  many  dissen- 
"  sions  about  religion,  the  scriptures,  which  the  king  had  put 
"  into  the  hands  of  his  people,  were  abused  by  many  seditious 
"  persons,  in  their  sermons,  books,  plays,  rhymes,  and  songs ; 
"  from  which  great  inconveniences  were  like  to  arise.  For 
"  preventing  these,  it  was  necessary  to  establish  a  form  of  sin- 
"  cere  doctrine,  conformable  to  that  which  was  taught  by  the 
"  apostles.  Therefore  all  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
"  ment,  of  Tyndale's  translation,  (which  is  called  crafty,  false, 
"  and  untrue,)  are  forbidden  to  be  kept  or  used  in  the  king^ 
"  dominions ;  with  all  other  books,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  322 
"  set  forth  in  the  year  1540  ;  with  punishments,  and  fines, 
"  and  imprisonment  upon  such  as  sold  or  kept  such  books. 
"  But  Bibles,  that  were  not  of  Tyndale's  translation,  were  still 
"  to  be  kept,  only  the  annotations,  or  preambles,  that  were  in 
"  any  of  them,  were  to  be  cut  out,  or  dashed ;  and  the  king's 
"  proclamations  and  injunctions,  with  the  Primers,  and  other 
"  books  printed  in  English,  for  the  instruction  of  the  people 
"  before  the  year  1540,  were  still  to  be  in  force  ;  and  among 
"  these,  Chaucer's  books  are  by  name  mentioned.  No  books 
"  were  to  be  printed  about  religion,  without  the  king's  allow- 
"  ance.  In  no  plays  nor  interludes  they  might  make  any 
"  expositions  of  scripture ;  but  only  reproach  vice,  and  set 
"  forth  virtue  in  them.  None  might  read  the  scripture  in  an 
"  open  assembly,  or  expound  it,  but  he  who  was  licensed  by 
"  the  king  or  his  ordinary  ;  with  a  proviso,  that  the  chancellors 
"  in  parliament,  judges,  recorders,  or  any  others,  who  were 
"  wont  in  public  occasions  to  make  speeches,  and  commonly 
"  took  a  place  of  scripture  for  their  text,  might  still  do  as  they 
"  had  done  formerly.  Every  nobleman  or  gentleman  might 
"  cause  the  Bible  to  be  read  to  him,  in  or  about  his  house, 
"  quietly  and  without  disturbance.  Every  merchant,  that  was 
"  a  householder,  might  also  read  it :  but  no  woman,  nor  arti- 
"  ficcrs,    apprentices,    journeymen,    serving-men,    under    the 


book  iil]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1543.)  509 

"  degree  of  yeomen  ;  nor  no  husbandmen  or  labourers,  might 

"  read  it.     Yet  every  noble  woman,  or  gentlewoman,  might 

"  read  it  for  herself ;    and  so  might  all  other  persons,  but 

"  those  who  were  excepted.     Every  person  might  read,  and 

"  teach  in  their  houses,  the  book  set  out  in  the  year  1540, 

"  with   the  Psalter,  Primer,  Paternoster,  the  Ave,  and  the 

"  Creed,  in  English96.      All  spiritual  persons,  who  preached 

"  or  taught  contrary  to  the  doctrine  set  forth  in  that  book, 

"  were  to  be  admitted,  for  the  first  conviction,  to  renounce 

"  their  errors;  for  the  second,  to  abjure,  and  carry  a  fagot;  [Ibid.  p. 

"  which  if  they  refused  to  do,  or  fell  into  a  third  offence,  they    97'-' 

"  were  to  be  burnt.     But  the  laity,  for  the  third  offence,  were 

"  only  to  forfeit  their  goods  and  chattels,  and  be  liable  to  per- 

"  petual  imprisonment.    But  these  offences  were  to  be  objected 

"  to  them  within  a  year  after  they   were  committed.     And 

"  whereas  before,  the  party  accused  was  not  allowed  to  bring 

"  witnesses  for  his  own  purgation ;  this  was  now  granted  him. 

"  But  to  this  a  severe  proviso  was  added,  which  seemed  to 

"  overthrow  all  the  former  favour ;   that  the  act  of  the  six 

"  articles  was  still  in  the  same  force  in  which  it  was  before  the 

"  making  of  this  act.     Yet  that  was  moderated  by  the  next 

"  proviso  ;  that  the  king  might,  at  any  time  hereafter,  at  his 

"  pleasure,  change  this  act,  or  any  provision  in  it." 

This  last  proviso  was  made  stronger  by  another  act,  made  [Cap.  23. 
for  the  due  execution  of  proclamations,  in  pursuance  of  a  for-  Jl  '  p" 
mer  act  to  the  same  effect,  of  which  mention  was  made  in  the 
thirty -first  year  of  the  king's  reign.  By  that  former  act  there 
was  so  great  a  number  of  officers  of  state,  and  of  the  king's 
household,  of  judges,  and  other  persons,  to  sit  on  these  trials, 
that  those  not  being  easily  brought  together,  the  act  had  never 

96  [The  words  of  the  Statute  are,  Paternoster,    Ave,    and    Creed    in 

'  Provided  also  that  it  shall  be  law-  English,  and    all  such  books   and 

ful   to    every  person   and   persons  writings  in  English  above  specially 

whatsoever,  to  read  and  teach  in  named,  to  be  reserved  and  not  to 

their  houses,  and  in  the  houses  of  be  abolished  and  prohibited  by  this 

their  husbands,  parents,  or  masters,  act,  so  they  do  the  same  quietly  and 

all  such  doctrine  as  since  the  year  without  disturbance  of  good  order.' 

of  our  Lord  a  thousand  five  hun-  There  was  no  book  set  out  in  the 

dred  and  forty  is  or   shall   be  set  year  1540,  the  ^Institution'  bearing 

forth  by  the  king's    majesty    our  dateTr^,  rafid'  thV-  ^Ehraitrori,' 

sovereign  lord  that  now  is  as  is  afdre-  ii343;-]M  ^D  V     F  P  O  VV  Dc.' 
said,  and  also  the  Psalters,  Primers,  ,  _    tll.  ,r  .  ,_. ,  -  - 

!  CLARENDON   PRESS  WAREh< 
I      AMEN  CORNER.  LONDON. 
j  NO!   TO  BF.  REMOVED  FROM  1  HE 
I  READING   ROOM- 


510 


THE    HISTORY    OF 


[part  I. 


A  league 
between 
the  king 
and  the 
emperor. 
[Herbert, 
P-  553-] 


taken  any  effect.     Therefore  it  was  now  appointed,  that  nine 
counsellors  should  be  a  sufficient  number  for  these  trials.     At 
the  passing  of  that  act,  the  lord  Mountjoy  protested  against  it, 
which  is  the  single  instance  of  a  protestation  against  any  public  323 
bill  through  this  king's  whole  reign. 

The  act  about  religion  freed  the  subjects  from  the  fears 
under  which  they  were  before.  For  now  the  laity  were  de- 
livered from  the  hazard  of  burning ;  and  the  spiritualty  were 
not  in  danger,  but  upon  the  third  conviction.  They  might 
also  bring  their  own  witnesses,  which  was  a  great  favour  to 
them.  Yet  that  high  power  which  was  given  the  king,  of 
altering  the  act,  or  any  parts  of  it,  made,  that  they  were  not 
absolutely  secured  from  their  fears,  of  which  some  instances 
afterwards  appeared.  But  as  this  act  was  some  mitigation  of 
former  severities,  so  it  brought  the  reformers  to  depend  wholly 
on  the  king's  mercy  for  their  lives ;  since  he  could  now  chain 
up,  or  let  loose,  the  act  of  the  six  articles  upon  them  at  his 
pleasure. 

Soon  after  the  end  of  this  parliament,  a  league  was  sworn 
between  the  king  and  the  emperor,  on  Trinity  Sunday,  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  for  England,  Calais,  and  the  places  about 
it,  and  for  all  Flanders;  with  many  other  particulars,  to  be 
found  in  the  treaty  set  down  at  large  by  the  lord  Herbert. 
There  is  no  mention  made  of  the  legitimation  of  the  lady 
Mary ;  but  it  seems  it  was  promised,  that  she  should  be  de- 
clared next  in  the  succession  of  the  crown  to  prince  Edward,  if 
the  king  had  no  other  children ;  which  was  done  in  the  next 
parliament,  without  any  reflections  on  her  birth  :  and  the  em- 
peror was  content  to  accept  of  that,  there  being  no  other  terms 
to  bo  obtained.  The  popish  party,  who  had  set  up  their  rest 
on  bringing  the  king  and  emperor  to  a  league,  and  putting 
the  lady  Mary  into  the  succession,  no  doubt  pressed  the  em- 
peror much  to  accept  of  this ;  which  we  may  reasonably  be- 
lieve was  vigorously  driven  on  by  Bonner,  who  was  sent  to 
Spain,  an  ambassador  for  concluding  this  peace,  by  which  also 
the  emperor  gained  much ;  for,  having  engaged  the  crowns  of 
England  and  France  in  a  war,  and  drawn  off  the  king  of  Eng- 
land from  his  league  with  the  princes  of  Germany,  he  was  now 
at  more  leisure  to  prosecute  his  designs  in  Germany. 

But  the  negotiation  in  Scotland  succeeded  not  to  the  king's 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1543.)  511 

mind,  though  at  first  there  were  very  good  appearances.  The  A  treaty 
cardinal,  by  forging  a  will  for  the  dead  king,  got  himself  and  ^[^  ^tc  * 
some  of  his  party  to  be  put  into  the  government.  But  the  queen  of 
earl  of  Arran,  (Hamilton,)  being  the  nearest  in  blood  to  the  [Buchanan, 
young  queen,  and  being  generally  beloved  for  his  probity,  was  *•  P-  282-l 
invited  to  assume  the  government ;  which  he  managed  with 
great  moderation,  and  an  universal  applause.  He  summoned 
a  parliament,  which  confirmed  him  in  his  power,  during  the 
minority  of  the  queen.  The  king  sent  sir  Ralph  Sadler  to 
him,  to  agree  the  marriage,  and  to  desire  him  to  send  the 
young  queen  into  England  :  and,  if  private  ends  wrought 
much  on  him,  Sadler  was  empowered  to  offer  another  marriage 
of  the  king's  second  daughter,  the  lady  Elizabeth,  to  his  son. 
The  earl  of  Arran  was  himself  inclinable  to  reformation,  and 
very  much  hated  the  cardinal ;  so  he  was  easily  brought  to 
consent  to  a  treaty  for  the  match,  which  was  concluded  in 
August ;  by  which  the  young  queen  was  to  be  bred  in  Scot- 
land, till  she  was  ten  years  of  age ;  but  the  king  might  send 
a  nobleman  and  his  wife,  with  other  persons,  not  exceeding 
twenty,  to  wait  on  her.  And,  for  performance  of  this,  six 
noblemen  were  to  be  sent  from  Scotland  for  hostages.  The 
3<24  earl  of  Arran,  being  then  governor,  kept  the  cardinal  under 
restraint  till  this  treaty  was  concluded  ;  but  he,  corrupting  his 
keepers,  made  his  escape,  and,  joining  with  the  queen-mother, 
they  made  a  strong  faction  against  the  governor  :  all  the 
clergy  joined  with  the  cardinal  to  oppose  the  match  with  Eng- 
land, since  they  looked  for  ruin  if  it  succeeded.  The  queen, 
being  a  sister  of  Guise,  and  bred  in  the  French  court,  was 
wholly  for  their  interests ;  and  all  that  had  been  obliged  by 
that  court,  or  depended  on  it,  were  quickly  drawn  into  the 
party.  It  was  also  said  to  every  body,  that  it  was  much  more 
the  interest  of  Scotland  to  match  with  France,  than  with  Eng- 
land. If  they  were  united  to  France,  they  might  expect  an  rphe  jiffer. 
easy  government :  for  the  French,  being  at  such  a  distance  ent  inter- 
from  them,  and  knowing  how  easily  they  might  throw  them- 
selves into  the  arms  of  England,  would  certainly  rule  them 
gently,  and  avoid  giving  them  great  provocations.  But  if  they 
were  united  to  England,  they  had  no  remedy ;  but  must  look 
for  an  heavier  yoke  to  be  laid  on  them.  This  meeting  with 
the  rooted  antipathy,  that  by  a  long  continuance  of  war  was 


512  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

grown  up  among  them,  to  a  savage  hatred  of  the  English 
nation,  and  being  inflamed  by  the  considerations  of  religion, 
raised  an  universal  dislike  of  the  match  with  England  in  the 
greatest  part  of  the  whole  nation ;  only  a  few  men  of  greater 
probity,  who  were  weary  of  the  depredations  and  wars  in  the 
borders,  and  had  a  liking  to  the  reformation  of  the  church, 
were  still  for  it. 
The  French  The  French  court  struck  in  vigorously  with  their  party  in 
vails.  Scotland,  and  sent  over  the  earl  of  Lennox ;  who,  as  he  was 

next  in  blood  to  the  crown,  after  the  earl  of  Arran,  so  was  of 
the  same  family  of  the  Stewarts,  which  had  endeared  him  to 
the  late  king.  He  was  to  lead  the  queen's  party  against  the 
Hamiltons ;  yet  they  employed  another  tool,  which  was  John 
Hamilton,  base  brother  to  the  governor,  who  was  afterwards 
archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's.  He  had  great  power  over  his 
brother ;  who,  being  then  not  above  four  and  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  having  been  the  only  lawful  son  of  this  father  in  his 
old  age,  was  never  bred  abroad ;  and  so  understood  not  the 
policies  and  arts  of  courts,  and  was  easily  abused  by  his  base 
brother.  He  assured  him,  that,  if  he  went  about  to  destroy 
religion,  by  matching  the  queen  to  an  heretical  prince,  they 
would  depose  him  from  his  government,  and  declare  him  ille- 
gitimate. There  could  be  indeed  nothing  clearer  than  his 
father's  divorce  from  his  first  wife  :  for  it  had  been  formerly 
proved,  that  she  had  been  married  to  the  lord  Yester's  son 
before  he  married  her,  who  claimed  her  as  his  wife;  upon 
which  her  marriage  with  the  earl  of  Arran  was  declared  null 
in  the  year  1507.  And  it  was  ten  years  after,  that  the  earl 
of  Arran  did  marry  the  governor's  mother :  of  which  things 
the  original  instruments  are  yet  extant.  Yet  it  was  now  said, 
that  that  precontract  with  the  lord  Yester's  son  was  but  a 
forgery,  to  dissolve  that  marriage ;  and  if  the  earl  of  Lennox 
(who  was  next  to  the  crown,  in  case  the  earl  of  Arran  was 
illegitimated)  should  by  the  assistance  of  France  procure  a 
review  of  that  process  from  Rome,  and  obtain  a  revocation  of 
that  sentence,  by  which  his  father's  first  marriage  was  an- 
nulled ;  then  it  was  plain,  that  the  second  marriage,  with  the 
issue  by  it,  would  be  of  no  force.  All  this  wrought  on  the 
governor  much,  and  at  length  drew  him  off  from  the  match 
with  England,  and  brought  him  over  to  the  French  interests.  325 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1543.)  513 

Which  being  effected,  there  was  no  further  use  of  the  earl  of 
Lennox :  so  he,  finding  himself  neglected  by  the  queen  and 
the  cardinal,  and  abandoned  by  the  crown  of  France,  fled  into 
England ;  where  he  was  very  kindly  received  by  the  king, 
who  gave  him  in  marriage  his  niece,  lady  Margaret  Douglas, 
whom  the  queen  of  Scotland  had  borne  to  the  earl  of  Angus, 
her  second  husband.  From  which  marriage  issued  the  lord 
Darnly,  father  to  king  James. 

When  the  lords  of  the  French  faction  had  carried  things  to 
their  mind  in  Scotland,  it  was  next  considered,  what  they 
should  do  to  redeem  the  hostages  whom  the  lords,  who  were 
prisoners  in  England,  had  left  behind  them.  And  for  this,  no 
other  remedy  could  be  found,  but  to  let  them  take  their  hazard, 
and  leave  them  to  the  king  of  England's  mercy.  To  this  they 
all  agreed ;  only  the  earl  of  Cassillis  had  too  much  honour 
and  virtue  to  do  so  mean  a  thing.  Therefore,  after  he  had 
done  all  he  could  for  maintaining  the  treaty  about  the  match, 
he  went  into  England,  and  offered  himself  again  to  be  a  pri- 
soner. But  as  generous  actions  are  a  reward  to  themselves, 
so  they  often  meet  with  that  entertainment  which  they  deserve. 
And,  upon  this  occasion,  the  king  was  not  wanting  to  express 
a  very  great  value  for  that  lord.  He  called  him  another  Re- 
gulus,  but  used  him  better :  for  he  both  gave  him  his  liberty, 
and  made  him  noble  presents,  and  sent  him  and  his  hostages 
back  ;  being  resolved  to  have  a  severer  reparation  for  the 
injury  done  him.  All  which  I  have  opened  more  fully,  because 
this  will  give  a  great  light  to  the  affairs  of  that  kingdom ; 
which  will  be  found  in  the  reigns  of  the  succeeding  princes  to 
have  a  great  intermixture  with  the  affairs  of  this  kingdom. 
Nor  are  they  justly  represented  by  any  who  write  of  these 
times :  and,  having  seen  some  original  papers  relating  to 
Scotland  at  that  time,  I  have  done  it  upon  more  certain 
information. 

The  king  of  England  made  war  next  upon  France.     The  A  war  with 
grounds  of  this  war  are  recited  by  the  lord  Herbert.     One  of  [Herbert, 
these  is  proper  for  me  to  repeat :   "  That  the  French  king  had  P-  55'  1 
"  not  deserted  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  consented  to  a  refor- 
"  mation,  as  he  had  once  promised.     The  rest  related  to  other 
"  things :   such  as  the  seizing  our  ships  ;    the  detaining  the 
"  yearly  pension  due  to  the  king  ;    the  fortifying  Ardres,  to 

BURNET,  PART  I.  L  1 


514  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

"  the  prejudice  of  the  English  pale ;  the  revealing  the  king's 

"  secrets  to  the  emperor  ;  the  having  given,  first,  his  daughter, 

"  and  then  the  duke  of  Guise's  sister,  in  marriage  to  his  enemy, 

"  the  king  of  Scotland ;    and  his  confederating  himself  with 

"  the  Turk.     And  satisfaction  not  being  given  in  these  par- 

y  ticulars,  a  war  is  declared." 

[July  12.]        In  July  the  king  married  Catharine  Parr,  who  had  been 

A  new  per- formerly  married  to  Nevil,  lord  Latimer.     She  was  a  secret 

protest-       favourer  of  the  reformation ;    yet  could  not  divert  a  storm, 

ants.  which  at  this  time  fell  on  some  in  Windsor  :  for  that  being  a 

[JfOX,   Vol.  t    •    l  1  1    •  T  1         (•  •  ■  n 

ii.  p.  460.]  place  to  which  the  king  did  ott  retire,  it  was  thought  tit  to 
make  some  examples  there.  And  now  the  league  with  the 
emperor  gave  the  popish  faction  a  greater  interest  in  the 
king's  councils.  There  was  at  this  time  a  society  at  Windsor, 
that  favoured  the  reformation  :  Anthony  Person,  a  priest ; 
Robert  Testwood,  and  John  Marbeck,  singing-men ;  and  Henry 
Filmer,  of  the  town  of  Windsor ;  were  the  chief  of  them.  But 
those  were  much  favoured  by  sir  Philip  Hobby  and  his  lady,  326 
and  several  others  of  the  king's  family.  During  Cromwell's 
power,  none  questioned  them ;  but  after  his  fall,  they  were 
looked  on  with  an  ill  eye.  Doctor  London,  who  had  by  the 
most  servile  flatteries  insinuated  himself  into  Cromwell,  and 
was  much  employed  in  the  suppression  of  monasteries,  and  ex- 
pressed a  particular  zeal  in  removing  all  images  and  relics 
which  had  been  abused  to  superstition,  did  now,  upon  Crom- 
well's fall,  apply  himself  to  Gardiner,  by  whose  means  he  was 
made  a  prebendary  there.  And,  to  shew  how  dextrously  he 
could  make  his  court  both  ways,  or  to  make  compensation  for 
what  he  had  formerly  done,  he  took  care  to  gather  a  whole 
book  of  informations  against  these  in  Windsor  who  favoured 
the  new  learning,  (which  was  the  modest  phrase  by  which 
they  termed  the  reformation).  He  carried  this  book  to  Gar- 
diner, who  moved  the  king  in  council,  that  a  commission  might 
be  granted  for  searching  suspected  houses  at  Windsor,  in 
which  it  was  informed  there  were  many  books  against  the  six 
articles.  The  king  granted  the  warrant  for  the  town,  but  not 
for  the  castle.  So  those  before  named  were  seized  on,  and 
some  of  these  books  were  found  in  their  houses.  Dr.  Haynes, 
dean  of  Exeter,  and  prebendary  of  Windsor,  being  informed 
against,  was  also  put  in  prison  ;    so  was  likewise  sir  Philip 


book  m.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1543.)  515 

Hobby.  But  there  were  likewise  some  papers  of  notes  on  the 
Bible,  and  of  a  concordance  in  English,  found  in  Marbeck 's 
house,  written  with  his  own  hand ;  and  he  being  an  illiterate 
man,  they  did  not  doubt  but  these  Avere  other  men's  works, 
which  he  was  writing  out.  So  they  began  with  him,  and 
hoped  to  draw  discoveries  from  him.  He  was  frequently  ex- 
amined, but  would  tell  nothing  that  might  do  hurt  to  any 
other  person.  But  being  examined  who  wrote  these  notes,  he 
said,  they  were  his  own ;  for  he  read  all  the  books  he  could 
light  on,  and  wrote  out  what  every  man  had  written  on  any 
place  of  scripture.  And  for  his  concordance,  he  told  them, 
that,  being  a  poor  man,  he  could  not  buy  one  of  the  Bibles 
when  they  came  first  out  in  English,  but  set  himself  to  write 
one  out ;  by  which  another,  perceiving  his  industry,  suggested 
to  him,  that  he  would  do  well  to  write  a  concordance  in  Eng- 
lish :  but  he  said,  he  knew  not  what  that  was ;  so  the  other 
person  explaining  it  to  him,  he  got  a  Latin  concordance,  and 
an  English  Bible ;  and,  having  learned  a  little  Latin  when  he  Marbeck's 
was  young,  he,  by  comparing  the  English  with  the  Latin,  had  ni0Usness. 
drawn  out  a  concordance,  which  he  had  brought  to  the  letter  L. 
This  seemed  so  extravagant  a  thing  to  Gardiner,  and  the 
other  bishops  that  examined  him,  that  they  could  by  no  means 
believe  it.  But  he  desired  they  would  draw  out  any  words  of 
the  letter  M,  and  give  him  the  Latin  concordance,  with  the 
English  Bible,  and  after  a  little  time  they  should  see  whether 
he  had  not  done  the  rest.  So  the  trial  was  made ;  and  in  a 
day's  time  he  had  drawn  out  three  sheets  of  paper,  upon  those 
words  that  were  given  him.  This  both  satisfied  and  astonished 
the  bishops,  wondering  at  the  ingeniousness  and  diligence  of  so 
poor  a  man.  It  was  much  talked  of;  and  being  told  the  king, 
he  said,  Marbeck  employed  his  time  better  than  those  that 
examined  him.  For  the  others,  they  were  kept  in  prison  at 
London  till  the  twenty-fourth  of  July,  that  the  king  gave 
orders  to  try  them  at  Windsor. 
327  There  was  a  court  held  there  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  July,  Three 
where  Capon  bishop  of  Sarum,  and  Franklin  dean  of  Windsor,  Windsor 
and  Fachel  parson  of  Reading,  and  three  of  the  judges,  sat  on 
those  four  men.  They  were  indicted  for  some  words  spoken 
against  the  mass.  Marbeck  only  for  writing  out  an  Epistle 
of  Calvin's  against  it ;  which,  he  said,  he  copied  before  the  act 

l1  2 


516 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[July  28. 
Stow,  p. 
585-] 


Their  per- 
secutors 
are  per- 
jured. 


[Fox,  vol. 
ii.  p.  469.] 


A  conspi- 
racy 
against 
Cranmer. 


of  the  six  articles  was  made.  The  jury  was  not  called  out  of 
the  town,  for  they  would  not  trust  it  to  them ;  but  out  of  the 
farms  of  the  chapel.  They  were  all  found  guilty,  and  so  con- 
demned to  be  burnt,  which  was  executed  on  three  of  them  the 
next  day ;  only  Marbeck  was  recommended  to  the  bishop  of 
Winchester's  care  to  procure  his  pardon,  which  was  obtained. 
The  other  three  expressed  great  composure  of  mind  in  their 
sufferings,  and  died  with  much  Christian  resolution  and  patience, 
forgiving  their  persecutors,  and  committing  themselves  to  the 
mercies  of  God,  through  Jesus  Christ. 

But  in  their  trial,  doctor  London,  and  Symonds,  a  lawyer 
and  an  informer,  had  studied  to  fish  out  accusations  against 
many  of  the  king's  servants ;  as  sir  Philip  Hobby,  and  sir 
Thomas  Cardine97,  with  their  ladies,  and  several  others  who 
had  favoured  those  men.  With  these  informations,  Oakam, 
that  had  been  the  clerk  of  the  court,  was  sent  to  Gardiner  : 
but  one  of  the  queen's  servants,  who  had  discovered  the  design, 
was  before  him  at  court.  Upon  the  advertisement  which  he 
had  brought,  Oakam  was  seized  on  at  his  coming  to  court,  and 
all  his  papers  were  examined ;  in  which  they  discovered  a  con- 
spiracy against  those  gentlemen,  with  other  plots,  that  gave 
the  king  great  offence  :  but  the  particulars  are  not  mentioned. 
So  doctor  London  and  Symonds  were  sent  for,  and  examined 
upon  this  discovery.  But  they,  not  knowing  that  their  letters 
were  intercepted,  denied  there  was  any  such  plot ;  and,  being 
put  to  their  oaths,  swore  it.  Then  their  own  handwriting  was 
produced  against  them  :  upon  which,  they  being  thus  perjured, 
were  ordered  to  be  carried  on  horseback,  with  their  faces 
to  the  horse-tails,  and  papers  on  their  foreheads,  for  their 
perjury ;  and  then  to  be  set  in  the  pillory,  both  in  Windsor, 
Reading,  and  Newbury,  where  the  king  was  at  that  time. 
This  was  accordingly  executed  on  them ;  but  sunk  so  deep  in 
doctor  London's  heart,  that  he  died  soon  after.  From  all  this 
it  will  appear  what  sort  of  men  the  persecutors  at  that  time 
were. 

But  this  was  a  small  part  of  what  Gardiner  had  projected  ; 

for  he  looked  on  these  as  persons  unworthy  of  his  displeasure. 

Cranmer  was  chiefly  aimed  at  by  him  :  and  therefore  all  that 

party  were  still  infusing  it  into  the  king's  mind,  that  it  was 

97  For  Cardine  read  Cawardin.  [S.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1543.)  517 

great  injustice  to  prosecute  poor  men  with  so  much  severity, 
and  let  the  chief  supporter  of  heresy  stand  in  so  eminent  a 
degree,  and  in  such  favour  about  him.  At  length  the  king,  to 
discover  the  bottom  of  their  designs,  seemed  to  give  car  to 
their  accusations,  and  desired  to  hear  what  particulars  could  be 
objected  against  him.  This  gave  them  great  encouragement ; 
for  till  that  time  the  king  would  let  nothing  be  said  against 
Cranmer.  So  they  concluded  he  would  be  quickly  ruined, 
since  the  king  had  opened  his  ear  to  their  informations. 
Therefore  many  particulars  were  quickly  laid  together,  and 
put  into  the  king's  hands  ;  who,  a  little  after  that,  going  to 
328  divert  himself  on  the  river,  ordered  his  bargemen  to  row  Antiq.Brit. 
towards  Lambeth  ;  which  being  perceived  by  some  of  the  arch-  ^p'  5QI  ^ 
bishop's  servants,  they  acquainted  him  with  it,  who  hasted 
down  to  his  stairs  to  do  his  duty  to  the  king.  When  the  king 
saw  him,  he  called  him  into  the  barge  ;  and  they  being  alone, 
the  king  lamented  the  growth  of  heresy,  and  the  dissensions 
and  confusions  that  were  like  to  follow  upon  it ;  and  said,  he 
intended  to  find  out  the  chief  encourager  and  favourer  of  these 
heresies,  and  make  him  an  example  to  the  rest.  And  he  asked 
the  archbishop's  opinion  about  it :  who  answered  him,  that 
it  was  a  good  resolution  ;  but  entreated  the  king  to  consider 
well  what  heresy  was,  and  not  to  condemn  those  as  heretics, 
who  stood  for  the  word  of  God  against  human  inventions. 
But,  after  some  discourse,  the  king  told  him  he  was  the  man, 
who,  as  he  was  informed,  was  the  chief  encourager  of  heresy  ; 
and  then  gave  him  the  articles  that  were  brought  against  him 
and  his  chaplains,  both  by  some  prebendaries  of  Canterbury, 
and  the  justices  of  peace  in  Kent.  When  he  read  them,  he 
kneeled  down,  and  desired  the  king  would  put  the  matter  to  a 
trial.  He  acknowledged  he  was  still  of  the  same  mind  he  was 
of,  when  he  opposed  the  six  articles ;  but  that  he  had  done 
nothing  against  them.  Then  the  king  asked  him  about  his 
wife  :  he  frankly  confessed  he  had  a  wife  ;  but  said,  that  he 
had  sent  her  to  Germany,  upon  the  passing  the  act  against 
priests  having  wives.  His  candour  and  simplicity  wrought  so 
on  the  king,  that  he  discovered  to  him  the  whole  plot  that  was 
laid  against  him ;  and  said,  that,  instead  of  bringing  him 
to  any  trial  about  it,  ho  would  have  him  try  it  out,  and  proceed 
against  those  his  accusers.     But  he  excused  himself,  and  said. 


518  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

it  would  not  be  decent  for  him  to  sit  judge  in  his  own  cause. 
But  the  king  said  to  him,  he  was  resolved  none  other  should 
judge  it,  but  those  he  should  name.  So  he  named  his  chan- 
cellor and  his  register,  to  whom  the  king  added  another :  and 
a  commission  being  given  them,  they  went  into  Kent,  and  sat 
three  weeks,  to  find  out  the  first  contrivers  of  this  accusation. 
And  now  every  one  disowned  it,  since  they  saAv  he  was  still 
firmly  rooted  in  the  king's  esteem  and  favour.  But  it  being 
observed  that  the  commissioners  proceeded  faintly,  Cranmer's 
friends  moved,  that  some  man  of  courage  and  authority  might 
be  sent  thither  to  canvass  this  accusation  more  carefully.  So 
doctor  Lee98,  dean  of  York,  was  brought  up  about  Allhallow- 
tide,  and  sent  into  Kent :  and  he,  who  had  been  well  acquainted 
with  the  arts  of  discovering  secrets  when  he  was  one  of  the 
visitors  of  the  abbeys,  managed  it  more  vigorously.  He 
ordered  a  search  to  be  made  of  all  suspected  persons  ;  among 
whose  papers  letters  were  found,  both  from  the  bishop  of 
Winchester,  and  doctor  London,  and  some  of  those  whom 
Cranmer  had  treated  with  the  greatest  freedom  and  kindness, 
in  which  the  whole  plot  against  him  was  discovered.  But 
it  was  now  near  the  session  of  parliament ;  and  the  king  was 
satisfied  with  the  discovery,  but  thought  it  not  fit  to  make 
much  noise  of  it.  And  he  received  no  addresses  from  the 
His  Christ-  archbishop  to  prosecute  it  further ;  who  was  so  noted  for  his 
of  mind!'61  clemency,  and  following  our  Saviour's  rule,  of  doing  good  for 
evil,  that  it  was  commonly  said,  the  way  to  get  his  favour,  was 
to  do  him  an  injury.  These  were  the  only  instances  in  which 
he  expressed  his  resentments.  Two  of  the  conspirators  against  309 
him  had  been  persons  signally  obliged  by  him :  the  one  was 
the  bishop  suffragan  of  Dover  ;  the  other  was  a  civilian,  whom 
he  had  employed  much  in  his  business.  But  all  the  notice  he 
took  of  it  was,  to  shew  them  their  letters,  and  to  admonish 
them  to  be  more  faithful  and  honest  for  the  future.  Upon 
which  he  freely  forgave  them  ;  and  carried  it  so  to  them  after- 
wards, as  if  he  had  absolutely  forgotten  what  they  had  con- 
trived against  him.  And  a  person  of  quality  coming  to  him 
about  that  time,  to  obtain  his  favour  and  assistance  in  a  suit, 
in  which  he  was  to  move  the  king,  he  went  about  it,  and  had 
almost  procured  it :  but  the  king,  calling  to  mind  that  he  had 
;'8  Qua?re,  if  not  for  Dr.  Layton.    [G.j 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1544.)  519 

been  one  of  his  secret  accusers,  asked  him,  Whether  he  took 
him  for  his  friend  ?  He  answered,  that  he  did  so.  Then  the 
king  said,  the  other  was  a  knave,  and  was  his  mortal  enemy ; 
and  bid  him,  when  he  should  see  him  next,  call  him  a  knave  to  [Ibid.  p. 
his  face.  Cranmer  answered,  that  such  language  did  not 
become  a  bishop.  But  the  king  sullenly  commanded  him  to 
do  it :  yet  his  modesty  was  such,  that  he  could  not  obey  so 
harsh  a  command  ;  and  so  he  passed  the  matter  over.  When 
these  things  came  to  be  known,  all  persons,  that  were  not 
unjustly  prejudiced  against  him,  acknowledged  that  his  be- 
haviour was  suitable  to  the  example  and  doctrine  of  the  meek 
and  lowly  Saviour  of  the  world ;  and  very  well  became  so 
great  a  bishop,  and  such  a  reformer  of  the  Christian  religion  ; 
who,  in  those  sublime  and  extraordinary  instances,  practised 
that  which  he  taught  others  to  do.  The  year  in  which  this 
fell  out  is  not  expressed  by  those  who  have  recorded  it ;  but, 
by  the  concurring  circumstances,  I  judge  it  likeliest  to  have 
been  done  this  year. 

Soon  after  this,  the  parliament  met,  that  was  summoned  to     1544. 
meet  the  fourteenth  of  January,  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  the  A  newpar- 
king's  reign  ;  in  which  the  act  of  the  succession  of  the  crown  [journals 
passed.     Which  contains,  "  That  the  king,  being  now  to  pass  of  L°i'4*> 
"  the  seas,  to  make  war  upon  his  ancient  enemy,  the  French  Act  about 
"  kinp\  and  being;  desirous   to   settle   the   succession  to  the  .    succes* 

£>'         #  »  _  sion. 

<(  crown  ;    it   is   enacted,  that,    in   default  of  heirs  of  prince  [Cap.  1. 

"  Edward's  body,  or  of  heirs  by  the  king's  present  marriage,  vol<  yj   ' 

"  the  crown  shall  go  to  the  lady  Mary,  the   king's   eldest  955-1 

"  daughter :   and  in  default  of  heirs  of  her  body,  or  if  she 

"  do  not  observe  such  limitations   or   conditions  as  shall  be 

"  declared  by  the  king's  letters  patents  under  his  great  seal, 

"  or  by  his  last  will  under  his  hand,  it  shall  next  fall  to  the 

"  lady  Elizabeth  and  her  heirs ;  or  if  she  have  none,  or  shall 

"  not  keep  the  conditions  declared  by  the  king,  it  shall  fall  to 

"  any  other  that  shall  be  declared  by  the  king's  letters  patents,  [Ibid.  r>. 

"  or  his  last  will  signed  with  his  hand.    There  was  also  an  oath 

"  devised,  instead  of  those  formerly  sworn,  both  against  the 

"  pope's  supremacy,  and  for  maintaining  the  succession  in  all 

"  points  according  to  this  act :    which   whosoever  refused   to 

"  take,  was  to  be  adjudged  a  traitor ;    and  whosoever  should, 

"  cither  in  words  or  by  writing,  say  any  thing  contrary  to 


520 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Ibid.  p. 

957-] 


[Cap.  5. 
Statutes, 
vol.   iii.    p 
960.] 


[Journals 
of  Lords, 
p.  264.] 

Act  against 
conspi- 
racies. 
[Statutes, 
vol.    iii.    p. 
961.] 


[Cap.  16. 
ibid.  p. 
976.] 


u  this  act,  or  to  the  peril  and  slander  of  the  king's  heirs,  limited 
"  in  the  act,  was  to  be  adjudged  a  traitor."  This  was  done, 
no  doubt,  upon  a  secret  article  of  the  treaty  with  the  emperor  ; 
and  did  put  new  life  into  the  popish  party,  all  whose  hopes 
depended  on  the  lady  Mary.  But  how  much  this  lessened  the  330 
prerogative,  and  the  right  of  succession,  will  be  easily  dis- 
cerned ;  the  king  in  this  affecting  an  unusual  extent  of  his  own 
power,  though  with  the  diminution  of  the  rights  of  his  suc- 
cessors. 

There  was  another  bill  about  the  qualifying  of  the  act  of  the 
six  articles,  that  was  sent  divers  times  from  the  one  house 
to  the  other.  It  was  brought  to  the  lords  the  first  of  March, 
and  read  the  first  time  ;  and  stuck  till  the  fourth,  when  it  was 
read  the  second  time  :  on  the  fifth  it  was  read  the  third  time, 
and  passed,  and  was  sent  down  to  the  commons,  with  words  to 
be  put  in,  or  put  out  of  it.  On  the  sixth,  the  commons  sent  it 
up  with  some  alterations  :  and  on  the  eighth,  the  lords  sent  it 
down  again  to  the  commons ;  where  it  lay  till  the  seventeenth, 
and  then  it  was  sent  up  with  their  agreement.  And  the  king's 
assent  was  given,  by  his  letters  patents,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of 
March.  The  preamble  was,  "  That  whereas  untrue  accusations 
(<  and  presentments  might  be  maliciously  contrived  against  the 
"  king's  subjects,  and  kept  secret  till  a  time  were  espied 
"  to  have  them  by  malice  convicted  :  therefore  it  was  enacted, 
"  that  none  should  be  indicted,  but  upon  a  presentment  by  the 
"  oaths  of  twelve  men,  to  at  least  three  of  the  commissioners 
"  appointed  by  the  king  :  and  that  none  should  be  imprisoned, 
"  but  upon  an  indictment,  except  by  a  special  warrant  from 
"  the  king  ;  and  that  all  presentments  should  be  made  within 
"  one  year  after  the  offences  were  committed ;  and  if  words 
"  were  uttered  in  a  sermon  contrary  to  the  statute,  they  must 
"  be  complained  of  within  forty  days,  unless  a  just  cause  were 
"  given  why  it  could  not  be  so  soon  :  admitting  also  the  parties 
"  indicted  to  all  such  challenges  as  they  might  have  in  any 
"  other  case  of  felony."  This  act  has  clearly  a  relation  to  the 
conspiracies  mentioned  the  former  year,  both  against  the  arch- 
bishop, and  some  of  the  king's  servants. 

Another  act  passed,  continuing  some  former  acts  for  revising 
the  canon  law,  and  for  drawing  up  such  a  body  of  ecclesiastical 
laws  as  should  have  authority  in  England.     This   Cranmer 


book  hi.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1544.)  521 

pressed  often  with  great  vehemence  ;  and,  to  shew  the  necessity 
of  it,  drew  out  a  short  extract  of  some  passages  in  the  canon 
law,  (which  the  reader  will  find  in  the  Collection,)  to  shew  how  Collect, 
indecent  a  thing  it  was,  to  let  a  volume,  in  which  such  laws 
were,  be  studied  or  considered  anv  longer  in  England.  There- 
fore  he  was  earnest  to  have  such  a  collection  of  ecclesiastical 
laws  made,  as  might  regulate  the  spiritual  cojtirts.  But  it  was 
found  more  for  the  greatness  of  the  prerogative,  and  the 
authority  of  the  civil  courts,  to  keep  that  undetermined ;  so  he 
could  never  obtain  his  desire  during  this  king's  reign. 

Another  act  passed  in  this  parliament,  for  the  remission,  of  a  [C<ap.  12. 
loan  of  money   which  the  king  had  raised.     This  is  almost  q-0'iP 
copied  out  of  an  act  to  the  same  effect  that  passed  in  the 
twenty-first  year  of  the  king's  reign ;  with  this  addition,  that 
by  this  act  those  who  had  got  payment,  either  in  whole  or 
in  part,  of  the  sums  so  lent  the  king,  were  to  repay  it  back  to 
the  exchequer.     All  business  being  finished,  and   a   general  fCaP- * 8. 
pardon  passed,  with  the  ordinary  exceptions  of  some  crimes,  981.] 
331  among  which  heresy  is  one,  the  parliament  was  prorogued,  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  March,  to  the  fourth  of  November. 

The  king  had  now  a  war  both  with  France  and  Scotland 
upon  him.     And  therefore,  to  prepare  for  it  he  both  enhanced 
the  value  of  money,  and  embased  it ;  for  which,  he  that  writes 
his  vindication  gives  this  for  the  reason  ;  That  the  coin  being  [Herbert, 
generally  embased  all  over  Europe,  he  was  forced  to  do  it,  lest  p*  5?2'-' 
otherwise  all  the  money  should  have  gone  out  of  the  kingdom. 
lie  resolved  to  begin  the  war  with  Scotland,  and  sent  an  army  The  war 
by  sea  thither,  under  the  command  of  the  earl  of  Hertford,  Sga+ystd 
(afterwards  duke  of  Somerset,)  who  landing  at  Grantham,  a  successful. 
little  above  Leith,  burnt  and  spoiled  Leith  and  Edinburgh ;  in  ]-  j?*e-i  ' 
which  they  found  more  riches  than  they  thought  could  possibly 
have  been  there  :  and  they  went  through  the  country,  burning 
and  spoiling  it  every  where,  till  they  came  to  Berwick.     But  [May  6.] 
they  did  too  much,  if  they  intended  to  gain  the  hearts  of  that 
people ;  and  too  little,  if  they  intended  to  subdue  them.     For 
as  they  besieged  not  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  which  would 
have  cost  them  more  time  and  trouble ;  so  they  did  not  fortify 
Leith,  nor  leave  a  garrison  in  it,  which  was  such  an  inexcusable 
omission,  that  it   seems  their  counsels   were   very  weak   and 
ill    laid.     For  Leith   being  fortified,   and  a   fleet  kept  going 


522  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

between  it  and  Berwick  or  Tinmouth,  the  trade  of  the  kingdom 
must  have  been  quite  stopped,  Edinburgh  ruined,  the  inter- 
course between  France  and  them  cut  off,  and  the  whole  king- 
dom forced  to  submit  to  the  king.  But  the  spoils  this  army 
made  had  no  other  effect  but  to  enrage  the  kingdom,  and  unite 
them  so  entirely  to  the  French  interests,  that,  when  the  earl 
of  Lennox  was  sent  down  by  the  king  to  the  western  parts 
of  Scotland,  where  his  power  lay,  he  could  get  none  to  follow 
him.  And  the  governor  of  Dumbarton  Castle,  though  his  own 
lieutenant,  would  not  deliver  that  castle  to  him,  when  he 
understood  he  was  to  put  it  in  the  king  of  England's  hands ; 
but  drove  him  out :  others  say,  he  fled  away  of  himself,  else  he 
had  been  taken  prisoner. 
[Herbert,  The  king  was  now  to  cross  the  seas  ;  but,  before  he  went, 
P-  5/3-J  jie  studied  to  settle  the  matters  of  religion,  so  that  both  parties 
might  have  some  content.  Audley  the  chancellor  dying,  he 
made  the  lord  Wriothesley,  that  had  been  secretary,  and  was  of 
the  popish  party,  lord  chancellor;  but  made  sir  William  Petre, 
that  was  Cranmer's  great  friend,  secretary  of  state.  He  also 
committed  the  government  of  the  kingdom  in  his  absence  to 
the  queen,  to  whom  he  joined  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
the  lord  chancellor,  the  earl  of  Hertford,  and  secretary  Petre. 
And  if  there  was  need  of  any  force  to  be  raised,  he  appointed 
the  earl  of  Hertford  his  lieutenant ;  under  whose  government 
the  reformers  needed  not  fear  any  thing.  But  he  did  another 
act  that  did  wonderfully  please  that  whole  party ;  which  was, 
the  translating  of  the  prayers  for  the  processions  and  litanies 
into  the  English  tongue.  This  was  sent  to  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  on  the  eleventh  of  June,  with  an  order  that  it 
should  be  used  over  all  his  province ;  as  the  reader  will  find  in 
Collect.  the  Collection.  This  was  not  only  very  acceptable  to  that 
Numb.  28.  party,  because  of  the  thing  itself;  but  it  gave  them  hope,  that 
the  king  was  again  opening  his  ears  to  motions  for  reforma- 
tion, to  which  they  had  been  shut  now  about  six  years :  and 
therefore  they  looked  that  more  things  of  that  nature  would  332 
quickly  follow.  And  as  these  prayers  were  now  set  out  in 
English,  so  they  doubted  not  but  there  being  the  same  reason 
to  put  all  the  other  offices  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  they  would 
prevail  for  that  too. 

Things  being  thus  settled  at  home,  the  king,  having  sent  his 


book  in]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1545.)  5523 

forces  over  before  him,  crossed  the  seas  with  much  pomp,  the 
sails  of  his  ship  being  of  cloth  of  gold.  He  landed  at  Calais 
the  fourteenth  of  July.  The  emperor  pressed  his  marching 
straight  to  Paris  :  but  he  thought  it  of  more  importance  to 
take  Boulogne  ;  and  after  two  months  siege  it  was  surrendered  Boulogne 
to  him ;  into  which  he  made  his  entry  with  great  triumph  on 
the  eighteenth  of  September.  But  the  emperor,  having  thus 
engaged  those  two  crowns  in  a  war,  and  designing,  while  they 
should  fight  it  out,  to  make  himself  master  of  Germany, 
concluded  a  treaty  with  the  French  king  the  very  next  day, 
being  the  nineteenth  of  September  ;  which  is  set  down  at  large  [Herbert, 
by  the  lord  Herbert.  On  the  thirtieth  of  September  the  king  P-57S*i'i-] 
returned  into  England  :  in  October  following  Boulogne  was  very 
near  lost  by  a  surprise  ;  but  the  garrison  put  themselves  in 
order,  and  beat  back  the  French.  Several  inroads  were  made 
into  Scotland,  but  not  with  the  same  success  that  the  former 
expedition  had  :  for  the  Scots,  animated  with  supplies  sent 
from  France,  and  inflamed  with  a  desire  of  revenge,  resumed 
their  wonted  courage,  and  beat  back  the  English  with  con- 
siderable loss. 

Next  year,  the  French  king,  resolving  to  recover  Boulogne,  1545. 
and  to  take  Calais,  that  so  he  might  drive  the  English  out  of 
France,  intended  first  to  make  himself  master  of  the  sea.  And 
he  set  out  a  great  fleet  of  an  hundred  and  fifty  greater  ships, 
and  sixty  lesser  ones,  besides  many  galleys,  brought  from  the 
Straits.  The  king  set  out  about  an  hundred  ships.  On  both 
sides,  these  were  only  merchant-ships  that  were  hired  for  this 
war.  But  after  the  French  fleet  had  looked  on  England,  and 
attempted  to  land  with  ill  success,  both  in  the  Isle  of  Wight 
and  in  Sussex,  and  had  engaged  in  a  sea-fight  for  some  hours,  • 
they  returned  back  without  any  considerable  action :  nor  did 
they  any  thing  at  land.  But  the  king's  fleet  wrent  to  Nor- 
mandy, where  they  made  a  descent  and  burnt  the  country. 
So  that  this  year  was  likewise  glorious  to  the  king.  The 
emperor  had  now  done  what  he  long  designed ;  and  therefore, 
being  courted  by  both  crowns,  he  undertook  a  mediation,  that, 
under  the  colour  of  mediating  a  peace,  he  might  the  more 
effectually  keep  up  the  war. 

The  princes  of  Germany  saw  Avhat  mischief  was  designed  The  Ger- 
against  them.     The  council  of  Trent  was  now  opened,  and  was  p,.'jn'ccs 


524 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


mediate  a 
peace. 


[Fox,  vol. 
ii.  p.  494.] 


Church 
prefer- 
ments 
given  to 
reformers. 
[Sept.  13. 

1544-1 
[Jan.  10. 

1 545-] 
[May  3.] 


[Nov.  1 7 

1 543-] 

[Dec.  22 

1 54  3-] 
[June  I; 

-T  544-1 


condemning  their  doctrine.  A  league  was  also  concluded 
between  the  pope  and  the  emperor,  for  procuring  obedience  to 
their  canons  and  decrees :  and  an  army  was  raised.  The 
emperor  was  also  setting  on  foot  old  quarrels  with  some  of  the 
princes.  A  firm  peace  was  concluded  with  the  Turk.  So  that 
if  the  crowns  of  England  and  France  were  not  brought  to  an 
agreement,  they  were  undone.  They  sent  ambassadors  to  both 
courts  to  mediate  a  peace.  With  them  Cranmer  joined  his 
endeavours,  but  he  had  not  a  Cromwell  in  the  court  to  manage 
the  king's  temper,  who  was  so  provoked  with  the  ill  treatment 
he  had  received  from  France,  that  he  would  not  come  to  an  333 
agreement ;  nor  would  he  restore  Boulogne,  without  which  the 
French  would  hear  of  no  peace.  Cranmer  had  at  this  time 
almost  prevailed  with  the  king  to  make  some  further  steps  in  a 
reformation :  but  Gardiner,  who  was  then  ambassador  in  the 
emperor's  court,  being  advertised  of  it,  wrote  to  the  king,  that 
the  emperor  would  certainly  join  with  France  against  him,  if 
he  made  any  further  innovation  in  religion.  This  diverted  the 
king  from  it ;  and  in  August  this  year,  the  only  great  friend 
that  Cranmer  had  in  the  court  died,  Charles  duke  of  Suffolk, 
who  had  long  continued  in  the  height  of  favour,  which  was 
always  kept  up,  not  only  by  an  agreement  of  humours  between 
the  king  and  him,  but  by  the  constant  success  which  followed 
him  in  all  his  exploits.  He  was  a  favourer  of  the  reformation, 
as  far  as  could  consist  with  his  interest  at  court,  which  he 
never  endangered  upon  any  account. 

Now  Cranmer  was  left  alone,  without  friend  or  support. 
Yet  he  had  gained  one  great  preferment  in  the  church  to  a 
man  of  his  own  mind.  The  archbishopric  of  York  falling  void 
by  Lee's  death,  Robert  Holgate,  that  was  bishop  of  Llandaff, 
was  promoted  to  that  see  in  January  ;  Kitchin  being  made 
bishop  of  Llandaff,  who  turned  with  every  change  that  was 
made  under  the  three  succeeding  princes.  The  archbishop  of 
York  set  about  the  reforming  of  things  in  his  province,  which 
had  lain  in  great  confusion  all  his  predecessor's  time  :  so  on 
the  third  of  March  he  took  out  a  license  from  the  king  for 
making  a  mctropolitical  visitation.  Bell,  that  was  bishop  of 
Worcester,  had  resigned  his  bishopric  the  former  year,  (the 
reason  of  which  is  not  set  down.)  The  bishop  of  Rochester, 
Heath,  was  translated  to  that  sec ;    and  Ilcnrv  Holboach,  that 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1545.)  525 

favoured  the  reformation,  was  made  bishop  of  Rochester.    And 
upon  the  translation  of  Sampson  from  Chichester  to  Coventry  [Feb.  19. 
and  Lichfield,  Day,  that  was  a  moderate  man,  and  inclinable  to  [May  6.] 
reformation,    was   made    bishop    of  that   see.      So   that   now 
Cranmer  had  a  greater  party  among  the  bishops  than  at  any 
time  before. 

But  though  there  were  no  great  transactions  about  religion 
in  England  this  year,  there  were  very  remarkable  things  done 
in  Scotland,  though  of  a  different  nature  ;  which  were,  the 
burning  of  Wishart,  and,  some  months  after  that,  the  killing 
of  cardinal  Beaton  :  the  account  of  both  which  will  not,  I  hope, 
be  ungrateful  to  the  reader. 

Mr.  George  Wishart  was  descended  of  a  noble  family  ;  he  Wishart'a 
went  to  finish  his  studies  in  the  university  of  Cambridge,  where  in  soot- 
he was  so  well  instructed  in  the  principles  of  true  religion,  that,  land, 
returning  to  Scotland,  anno  1544,  he  preached  over  the  country  woodjp.76.] 
against  the  corruptions  which  did  then  so  generally  prevail. 
He  stayed  most  at  Dundee,  which  was  the  chief  town  in  these 
parts.     But  the  cardinal,  offended  at  this,  sent  a  threatening 
message  to  the  magistrates ;  upon  which  one  of  them,  as  Wishart 
ended  one  of  his  sermons,  was  so  obsequious  as  to  forbid  him  to 
preach  any  more  among  them,  or  give  them  any  further  trouble  : 
to  whom  he  answered,  "  that  God  knew  he  had  no  design  to 
"  trouble  them ;  but  for  them  to  reject  the  messengers  of  God, 
"  was  not  the  way  to  escape  trouble  :  when  he  was  gone,  God 
334  "  would  send  messengers  of  another  sort  among  them.      He 
"  fead,  to  the  hazard  of  his  life,  preached  the  word  of  salvation 
"  to  them,  and  they  had  now  rejected  him  ;  but  if  it  was  long 
"  well  with  them,  he  was  not  led  by  the  Spirit  of  truth  ;  and 
"  if  unlooked-for  trouble  fell  on  them,  he  bade  them  remember 
u  this  was  the  cause  of  it,  and  turn  to  God  by  repentance." 
From  thence  he  went  to  the  western  parts,  where  he  was  also 
much  followed.     But  the  archbishop  of  Glasgow  giving  order 
that  he  should   not  be  admitted  to  preach   in  churches,  he 
preached  often  in  the  fields ;  and  when  in  some  places  his  fol- 
lowers would  have  forced  the  churches,  he  checked  them,  and 
said,  It  was  the  word  of  peace  that  he  preached,  and  therefore 
no  blood  should  be  shed  about  it.     But  after  he  had  stayed  a  [Ibid, 
month  there,  he  heard  that  there  was  a  great  plague  in  Dundee,  p' 77 '■' 
which  broke  out  the  fourth  day  after  he  had  left  it :  upon 


526  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti, 

which  he  presently  returned  thither,  and  preached  oft  to  them, 
standing  over  one  of  the  gates,  having  taken  care  that  the 
infected  persons  should  stand  without,  and  those  that  were 
clean  within  the  gate.  He  continued  among  them,  and  took 
care  to  supply  the  poor,  and  to  visit  the  sick,  and  do  all  the 
offices  of  a  faithful  pastor  in  that  extremity.  Once,  as  he 
ended  his  sermon,  a  priest  coming  to  have  killed  him,  was 
taken  with  the  weapon  in  bis  hand ;  but  when  the  people  were 
rushing  furiously  on  him,  Wishart  got  him  in  his  arms,  and 
saved  him  from  their  rage  ;  for  he  said,  he  had  done  no  harm, 
only  they  saw  what  they  might  look  for.  He  became  a  little 
after  this  more  than  ordinary  serious,  and  apprehensive  of  his 
end :  he  was  seen  sometimes  to  rise  in  the  night,  and  spend  the 
greatest  part  of  it  in  prayer ;  and  he  often  warned  his  hearers, 
that  his  sufferings  were  at  hand,  but  that  few  should  suffer 
after  him,  and  that  the  light  of  true  religion  should  be  spread 
over  the  whole  land.  He  went  to  a  great  many  places,  where 
his  sermons  were  well  received ;  and  came  last  to  Lothian, 
[Ibid.  where  lie  found  a  greater  neglect  of  the  gospel  than  in  other 

parts,  for  which  he  threatened  them,  that  strangers  should 
chase  them  from  their  dwellings,  and  possess  them.  He  was 
lodged  in  a  gentleman  of  quality's  house,  Cockburn  of  Ormi- 
ston,  when,  in  the  night,  the  house  was  beset  by  some  horse- 
men, who  were  sent  by  the  cardinal's  means  to  take  him.  The 
earl  of  Bothwell,  that  had  the  chief  jurisdiction  in  the  county, 
wTas  with  them,  who  promising  that  no  hurt  should  be  done 
him,  he  caused  the  gate  to  be  opened,  saying,  The  blessed  114II 
of  God  be  done.  When  he  presented  himself  to  the  earl  of 
Bothwell,  he  desired  to  be  proceeded  with  according  to  law  ; 
for  he  said,  he  feared  less  to  die  openly,  than  to  be  murdered 
in  secret.  The  earl  promised,  upon  his  honour,  that  no  harm 
should  be  done  him,  and,  for  some  time,  seemed  resolved  to 
have  made  his  words  good ;  but  the  queen-mother  and  cardinal 
in  the  end  prevailed  with  him  to  put  Wishart  in  their  hands  : 
and  they  sent  him  to  St.  Andrew's,  where  it  was  agreed  to 
[Ibid.  p.  make  a  sacrifice  of  him.  Upon  this  the  cardinal  called  a  meeting 
79-l  of  the  bishops  to  St.  Andrew's,  against  the  twenty -seventh  of 

February,  to  destroy  him  with  the  more  ceremony  ;  but  the 
archbishop  of  Glasgow  moved,  that  there  should  be  a  warrant 
procured  from  the  lord  governor  for  their  proceedings.     To 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1546.)  527 

this  the  cardinal  consented,  thinking  the  governor  was  then  so 
linked  to  their  interests,  that  he  would  deny  them  nothing ; 
335  hut  the  governor,  hearing  in  his  heart  a  secret  love  to  religion, 
and  being  plainly  dealt  with  by  a  noble  gentleman  of  his  name, 
Hamilton  of  Preston,  who  laid  before  him  the  just  and  terrible 
judgments  of  God  he  might  look  for,  if  he  suffered  poor  inno- 
cents to  be  so  murdered  at  the  appetite  of  the  clergy,  sent  the 
cardinal  word  not  to  proceed  till  he  himself  came,  and  that  he 
would  not  consent  to  his  death  till  the  cause  was  well  examined; 
and  that,  if  the  cardinal  proceeded  against  him,  his  blood  should 
be  required  at  his  hands.  But  the  cardinal  resolved  to  go  on 
at  his  peril,  for  he  apprehended,  if  he  delayed  it,  there  might 
be  either  a  legal  or  a  violent  rescue  made ;  so  he  ordered  a 
mock  citation  of  Wishart  to  appear ;  who  being  brought  the  [Ibid. 
next  day  to  the  abbey-church,  the  process  was  opened  with 
a  sermon,  in  which  the  preacher  delivered  a  great  deal  of  good 
doctrine,  concerning  the  scriptures  being  the  only  touchstone 
by  which  heresy  was  to  be  tried.  After  sermon,  the  prisoner 
was  brought  to  the  bar  :  he  first  fell  down  on  his  knees,  and, 
after  a  short  prayer,  he  stood  up  and  gave  a  long  account  of 
his  sermons  ;  that  he  had  preached  nothing  but  what  was  con- 
tained in  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer ;  but  was  interrupted  with  reproachful  words, 
and  required  to  answer  plainly  to  the  articles  objected  to  him. 
Upon  which  ho  appealed  to  an  indifferent  judge  :  he  desired  to 
be  tried  by  the  word  of  God,  and  before  my  lord  governor, 
whose  prisoner  he  was  :  but  the  indictment  being  read,  lie, 
confessing  and  offering  to  justify  most  of  the  articles  objected 
against  him,  was  judged  an  obstinate  heretic,  and  condemned 
to  be  burnt.  All  the  next  night  he  spent  in  prayer  :  in  the  [Ibid, 
morning,  two  friars  came  to  confess  him  ;  but  he  said,  he  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  them  ;  yet,  if  he  could,  he  would 
gladly  speak  with  the  learned  man  that  preached  the  day 
before.  So  he  being  sent  to  him,  after  much  conference,  he 
asked  him  if  he  would  receive  the  sacrament  ?  Wishart  an- 
swered, he  would  most  gladly  do  it,  if  he  might  have  it  as 
Christ  had  instituted  it,  under  both  kinds ;  but  the  cardinal 
would  not  suffer  the  sacrament  to  be  given  him.  And  so, 
breakfast  being  brought,  he  discoursed  to  those  that  were 
present  of  the  death  of  Christ,  and  the  ends  of  the  sacrament. 


528  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

and  then,  having  blessed  and  consecrated  the  elements,  he  took 
the  sacrament  himself,  and  gave  it  to  those  that  were  with  him. 
That  being  done,  he  would  taste  no  other  thing,  but  retired  to 
his  devotion.  Two  hours  after,  the  executioners  came,  and 
put  on  him  a  coat  of  black  linen,  full  of  bags  of  powder,  and 
carried  him  out  to  the  place  of  execution,  which  was  before  the 
cardinal's  castle.  He  spake  a  little  to  the  people,  desiring  them 
not  to  be  offended  at  the  good  word  of  God,  for  the  sufferings 
that  followed  it ;  it  was  the  true  gospel  of  Christ  that  he  had 
preached,  and  for  which,  with  a  most  glad  heart  and  mind,  he 
now  offered  up  his  life.  The  cardinal  was  set  in  state  in  a 
great  window  of  his  castle,  looking  on  this  sad  spectacle.  When 

[Ibid.  Wishart  was  tied  to  the  stake,  he  cried  aloud,  0  Saviour  of 

the  world,  have  mercy  upon  me!  Father  of  heaven,  I  recom- 
mend my  spirit  into  thy  holy  hands.  So  the  executioners 
kindled  the  fire ;  but  one  perceiving,  after  some  time,  that  he 
was  yet  alive,  encouraged  him  to  call  still  on  God :  to  whom 
he  answered,  "  The  flame  hath  scorched  my  body,  yet  hath  it 
"  not  daunted  my  spirit ;  but  he,  who  from  yonder  high  place  336 
"  (looking  up  to  the  cardinal)  beholdeth  us  with  such  pride, 
"  shall  within  few  days  lie  in  the  same,  as  ignominiously  as 
"  now  he  is  seen  proudly  to  rest  himself."  The  executioner 
drawing  the  cord  that  was  about  his  neck  straiter,  stopped  his 
breath  so,  that  he  could  speak  no  more  ;  and  his  body  was 

[March  i.]  soon  consumed  by  the  fire.  Thus  died  this  eminent  servant 
and  witness  of  Christ,  on  whose  sufferings  I  have  enlarged  the 
more,  because  they  proved  so  fatal  to  the  interests  of  the  popish 
clergy ;  for  not  any  one  thing  hastened  forward  the  reforma- 
tion more  than  this  did  ;  and  since  he  had  both  his  education 
and  ordination  in  England,  a  full  account  of  him  seems  no  im- 
pertinent digression. 

The  clergy  rejoiced  much  at  his  death,  and  thought  (ac- 
cording to  the  constant  maxim  of  all  persecutors)  that  they 
should  live  more  at  ease,  now  when  Wishart  was  out  of  the 
way.  They  magnified  the  cardinal  for  proceeding  so  vigorously, 
without,  or  rather  against,  the  governor's  orders  :  but  the 
people  did  universally  look  on  him  as  a  martyr,  and  believed 
an  extraordinary  measure  of  God's  Spirit  had  rested  on  him, 
since,  besides  great  innocency  and  purity  of  life,  his  predictions 
came  so  oft  to  pass,  that  he  was  believed  a  prophet  as  well  as  a 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1546.)  529 

saint;  and  the  reformation  was  now  so  much  opened  by  his 
preaching,  and  that  was  so  confirmed  by  his  death,  that  the 
nation  was  generally  possessed  with  the  love  of  it.  The  no- 
bility were  mightily  offended  with  the  cardinal,  and  said, 
Wishart's  death  was  no  less  than  murder,  since  the  clergy, 
without  a  warrant  from  the  secular  power,  could  dispose  of  no 
man's  life.  So  it  came  universally  to  be  said,  that  he  now 
deserved  to  die  by  the  law :  yet  since  he  was  too  great  for  a 
legal  trial,  the  kingdom  being  under  the  feeble  government  of 
a  regency,  it  was  fit  private  persons  should  undertake  it ;  and 
it  was  given  out,  that  the  killing  an  usurper  was  always  esteemed 
a  commendable  action  ;  and  so,  in  that  state  of  things,  they 
thought  secret  practices  might  be  justified.  This  agreeing  so 
much  with  the  temper  of  some  in  that  nation,  who  had  too 
much  of  the  heat  and  forwardness  of  their  country,  a  few 
gentlemen  of  quality,  who  had  been  ill  used  by  the  cardinal, 
conspired  his  death.  He  was  become  generally  hateful  to  the 
whole  nation  ;  and  the  marriage  of  his  bastard  daughter  to  the 
earl  of  Crawford's  eldest  son  enraged  the  nobility  the  more 
against  him ;  and  his  carriage  towards  them  all  was  insolent 
and  provoking.  These  offended  gentlemen  came  to  St.  An- 
drew's the  twenty-ninth  of  May  ;  and  the  next  morning  they  [Ibid. 
and  their  attendants,  being  but  twelve  in  all,  first  attempted  p'  3*^ 
the  gate  of  his  castle,  which  they  found  open,  and  made  it 
sure :  and  though  there  were  no  fewer  than  an  hundred 
reckoned  to  be  within  the  castle,  yet  they,  knowing  the  pas- 
sages of  the  house,  went  with  very  little  noise  to  the  servants' 
chambers,  and  turned  them  almost  all  out  of  doors ;  and  having 
thus  made  the  castle  sure,  they  went  to  the  cardinal's  door  : 
he,  who  till  then  was  fast  asleep,  suspecting  nothing,  perceived 
«at  last,  by  their  rudeness,  that  they  were  not  his  friends,  and 
made  his  door  fast  against  them.  So  they  sent  for  fire  to  set 
to  it ;  upon  which  he  treated  with  them,  and,  upon  assurance 
of  life,  he  opened  the  door  :  but  they,  rushing  in,  did  most 
cruelly  and  treacherously  murder  him.  A  tumult  was  raised 
337  in  the  town,  and  many  of  his  friends  came  to  rescue  him  ;  but 
the  conspirators  carried  the  dead  body,  and  exposed  it  to  their 
view,  in  the  same  window  out  of  which  he  had  not  long  before 
looked  on  when  Wishart  was  burnt,  which  had  been  universally 
censured  as  a  most  indecent  thing  in  a  churchman,  to  delight 

BURNET,  PART  I.  M  IV) 


p.  84.] 


5J50  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part 

•in  such  a  spectacle.  But  those  who  condemned  this  action,  yet 
acknowledged  God's  justice  in  so  exemplary  a  punishment ;  and, 
reflecting  on  Wishart's  last  words,  were  the  more  confirmed  in 
the  opinion  they  had  of  his  sanctity.  This  fact  was  differently 
censured  ;  some  justified  it,  and  said,  it  was  only  the  killing  of 
a  mighty  robber ;  others,  that  were  glad  he  was  out  of  the 
way,  yet  condemned  the  manner  of  it  as  treacherous  and  in- 
human. And  though  some  of  the  preachers  did  afterwards  fly 
to  that  castle  as  a  sanctuary,  yet  none  of  them  were  either 
actors  or  consenters  to  it :  it  is  true  they  did  generally  ex- 
[Ibid.  tenuate  it,  yet  I  do  not  find  that  any  of  them  justified  it.     The 

exemplary  and  signal  ends  of  almost  all  the  conspirators,  scurco 
any  of.  them  dying  an  ordinary  death,  made  all  people  the  more 
inclined  to  condemn  it.     The  day  after  the  cardinal  was  killed, 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  came  into  the  castle,  and  prepared 
for  a  siege.      The  house  was  well  furnished  in  all  things  ne- 
cessary ;  and,  it  lying  so  near  the  sea,  they  expected  help  from 
king  Henry,  to  whom  they  sent  a  messenger  for  his  assistance, 
and  declared  for  him.     So  a  siege  following,  they  were  so  well 
supplied  from  England,  that,  after  five  months,  the  governor 
was  glad  to  treat  with  them,  apprehending  much  the  footing 
the    English    might    have,    if  those    within,    being  driven   to 
extremities,  should  receive  a  garrison  from  king  Henry.    They 
had  the  governor  also  more  at  their  mercy  ;  for  as  the  cardinal 
had  taken  his  eldest   son  into  his  house  under  the  pretence 
of  educating  him,  but  really  as  his  father's  hostage,  designing 
likewise  to  infuse  in  him  a  violent  hatred  of  the  new  preachers  ; 
so   the  conspirators,  finding  him  in  the  castle,  kept  him    still 
to  help   them  to  better  terms.     A  treaty   being  agreed  on, 
they  demanded  their  pardon  for  what  they  had  done,  together 
with  an  absolution,  to  be  procured  from  Rome,  for  the  killing 
of  the  cardinal ;  and  that  the  castle,  and  the  governor's  son, 
should  remain  in  their  hands  till  the  absolution  was  brought 
over.     Some  of  the  preachers,  apprehending  the  clergy  might 
revenge  the  cardinal's  death  on  them,  were  forced  to  fly  into 
the  castle  ;  but  one  of  them,  John  Rough,  (who  was  afterwards 
burnt  in  England,  in  queen  Mary's  time,)  being  so  offended  at 
the  licentiousness  of  the  soldiers  that  were  in  the  castle,  who 
were  a  reproach  to  that  which  they  pretended  to  favour,  left 
them,  and  went  awray  in  one  of  the  ships  that  brought  pro- 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1545.)  531 

visions  out  of  England.  When  the  absolution  came  from  Rome, 
they  excepted  to  it,  for  some  words  in  it  that  called  the  killing 
of  the  cardinal  crimen  irremissibile,  an  unpardonable  crime ; 
by  which,  they  said,  the  absolution  gave  them  no  security, 
since  it  was  null,  if  the  fact  could  not  be  pardoned.  The  truth 
was,  they  were  encouraged  from  England  ;  so  they  refused  to 
stand  to  the  capitulation,  and  rejected  the  absolution.  But 
some  ships  and  soldiers  being  sent  from  France,  the  castle  was 
besieged  at  land,  and  shut  up  also  by  sea  ;  and,  which  was 
worst  of  all,  a  plague  broke  out  within  it,  of  which  many  died. 
338  Upon  this,  no  help  coming  suddenly  from  England,  they  were 
forced  to  deliver  up  the  place  on  no  better  terms,  than  that 
their  'lives  should  be  spared ;  but  they  were  to  be  banished 
Scotland,  and  never  to  return  to  it.  The  castle  was  demolished, 
according  to  the  canon  law,  that  appoints  all  places,  where  any 
cardinal  is  killed,  to  be  razed.  This  was  not  completed  this 
year,  and  not  till  two  years  after  ;  only  I  thought  it  best 
to  join  the  whole  matter  together,  and  set  it  down  all  at 
once. 

In  November  following  a  new  parliament  was  held ;  where,  A  parlia- 
toward  the  expense  of  the  king's  wars,  the  convocation  of  the  rNov  '-1 
province  of  Canterbury  granted  a  continuation  of  the  former  [cap  24. 
subsidy  of  six  shillings  in  the  pound,  to  be  paid  in  two  years.  Statutes, 
But  for  the  temporalty,  a  subsidy  was  demanded  from  them  of  p.  TOi6.] 
another  kind ;  there  were  in  the  kingdom  several  colleges,  chapters 
chapels,    chantries,    hospitals,    and   fraternities,    consisting   of  f"d     .an" 

1        '  _ r  »  tries  given 

secular  priests,  who  enjoyed  pensions  for  saying  mass  for  the  to  the  king, 
souls  of  those  who  had  endowed  them.  Now  the  belief  of  pur-  ■•  *8§  -1 
gatory  being  left  indifferent  by  the  doctrine  set  out  by  the 
bishops,  and  the  trade  of  redeeming  souls  being  condemned ; 
it  was  thought  needless  to  keep  up  so  many  endowments  to  no 
purpose.  Those  priests  were  also  generally  ill  affected  to  the 
king's  proceedings,  since  their  trade  was  so  much  lessened  by 
them.  Therefore  many  of  them  had  been  dealt  with  to  make 
resignations :  and  four  and  twenty  of  them  had  surrendered  to 
the  king.  It  was  found  also,  that  many  of  the  founders  of 
these  houses  had  taken  them  into  their  own  hands,  and  that 
the  master,  wardens,  and  governors  of  them  had  made  agree- 
ments for  them,  and  given  leases  of  them  :  therefore  now,  a 
subsidy  being  demanded,  all  those  were  given  to  the  king  by 

m  m  2 


532, 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Cap.  25. 
Statutes, 
vol.  iii. 
p.  1019.] 


[Hall, 
p.  864.] 

The  king's 
speech  to 
the  houses. 


[Ibid. 

p.  865.] 


act  of  parliament ;  Avhich  also  confirmed  the  deeds  that  any  had 
made  to  the  king :  empowering  him,  in  any  time  of  his  life,  to 
issue  out  commissions  for  seizing  on  these  foundations,  and 
taking  them  into  his  own  possession :  which,  being  so  seized 
on,  should  belong  to  the  king  and  his  successors  for  ever. 
They  also  granted  another  subsidy  for  the  war.  When  all 
their  business  was  done,  the  king  came  to  the  house,  and  made 
a  long  speech,  of  which  I  cannot  sufficiently  wonder  that  no 
entry  is  made  in  the  Journals  of  the  house  of  lords :  yet  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  but  he  made  it,  for  it  was  published  by  Hall 
soon  after  ->9. 

When  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons  had  presented 
the  bills,  with  a  speech  full  of  respect  and  compliment,  as  is 
usual  upon  these  occasions  ;  the  king  answered, '  "  thanking 
them  for  the  subsidy,  and  the  bill  about  the  colleges  and 
chantries ;  and  assured  them,  that  he  should  take  care  both 
for  supplying  the  ministers,  for  encouraging  learning,  and 
relieving  the  poor  ;  and  they  should  quickly  perceive  that 
in  these  things  their  expectations  should  be  answered,  be- 
yond what  they  either  wished  or  desired.  And  after  he 
had  expressed  his  affection  to  them,  and  the  assurance  he 
had  of  their  duty  and  fidelity  to  him,  he  advised  them  to 
amend  one  thing ;  which  was,  that,  instead  of  charity  and 
concord,  discord  and  division  ruled  every  where.  He  cited 
St.  Paul's  words,  That  charity  ivas  gentle,  and  not  envious, 
nor  proud.  But  when  one  called  another  heretic,  and  the 
other  called  him  papist  and  pharisee,  were  these  the  signs  of 
charity  ?  The  fault  of  this  he  charged  chiefly  on  the  fathers 
and  teachers  of  the  spiritualty,  who  preached  one  against 
another  without  charity  or  discretion ;  some  being  too  stiff  339 
in  their  old  mumpsimus,  others  too  busy  and  curious  in  their 
new  swnpsimus ;  and  few  preached  the  word  of  God  truly 
and  sincerely.  And  how  could  the  poor  people  live  in  con- 
cord, when  they  sowed  debate  among  them  ?  Therefore  he 
exhorted  them  to  set  forth  God's  word  by  true  preaching, 
and  giving  a  good  example ;  or  else  he,  as  God's  vicar  and 
high  minister,  would  see  these  enormities  corrected  ;  which 
if  he  did  not  do,  he  was  an  unprofitable  servant,  and  an  un- 

99  [There  is  another  account  of  this  speech  in  a  letter  from  sir  John 
Mason  to  Paget  in  MS.  in  the  State  Paper  Office.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1545.)  533 

"  true  officer.  He  next  reproved  them  of  the  tcmporalty,  [Ibid. 
"  who  railed  at  their  bishops  and  priests  ;  whereas,  if  they  p" 
"  had  any  thing  to  lay  to  their  charge,  they  ought  to  declare 
"  it  to  the  king  or  his  council,  and  not  take  upon  them  to 
"  judge  such  high  points.  For  though  they  had  the  scriptures 
"  given  them  in  their  mother-tongue,  yet  that  was  only  to 
"  inform  their  own  consciences,  and  instruct  their  children  and 
"  families ;  but  not  to  dispute,  nor  from  thence  to  rail  against 
"  priests  and  preachers,  as  some  vain  persons  did.  He  was 
"  sorry  that  such  a  jewel  as  the  word  of  God  was  so  ill  used  ; 
"  that  rhymes  and  songs  were  taken  out  of  it ;  but  much  more 
"  sorry  that  men  followed  it  so  little ;  for  charity  was  never 
"  fainter,  a  godly  life  never  less  appeared,  and  God  was  never 
"  less  reverenced  and  worshipped.  Therefore  he  exhorted 
"  them  to  live  as  brethren  in  charity  together,  to  love,  dread, 
"  and  serve  God  ;  and  then  the  love  and  union  between  him 
"  and  them  should  never  be  dissolved."  And  so,  exhorting 
them  to  look  to  the  execution  of  the  laws  which  themselves 
had  desired,  he  gave  his  royal  assent  to  the  bills,  and  dis- 
missed the  parliament. 

The  king  gave  at  this  time  a  commission  to  the  bishops  of 
Westminster,  AVorcester,  and  Chichester,  and  the  chancellor 
of  the  court  of  augmentation,  sir  Edward  North,  containing, 
"  That  whereas  the  king  had  founded  many  cathedrals,  in 
"  which  he  had  given  large  allowances,  both  to  be  distributed 
"  to  the  poor,  and  to  be  laid  out  for  the  mending  of  highways : 
"  to  Canterbury  a  hundred  pounds  for  the  poor,  and  forty 
"  pounds  for  the  highways :  to  Rochester  twenty  pounds  for 
"  the  poor,  and  twenty  pounds  for  the  highways  :  to  West- 
"  minster  a  hundred  pounds  for  the  poor,  and  forty  pounds 
"  for  the  highways :  to  Winchester  a  hundred  marks  for  the 
"  poor,  and  fifty  for  the  highways :  to  Bristol,  Gloucester, 
"  Chester,  Burton  upon  Trent,  Thornton,  Peterborough,  and 
"  Ely,  twenty  pounds  apiece  for  the  poor,  and  as  much  for  the 
"  highways :  to  Worcester  forty  pounds  for  the  poor,  and  forty 
"  pounds  for  the  highways :  to  Durham  a  hundred  marks  for 
"  the  poor,  and  forty  pounds  for  the  highways :  and  to  Car- 
"  lisle  fifteen  pounds  for  the  poor,  and  as  much  for  the  high- 
'f  ways.  In  all  about  five  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  a  year  to 
"  the  poor,  and  about  four  hundred  pounds  a  year  for  the 


534 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


The  king 
confirms 
the  rights 
of  the  uni- 
versities. 
[Herbert, 
P-  599-1 


1 546. 


[Herbert, 
p.  6oo.] 


Peace  with 
France. 
[June  7. 
Herbert, 
p.  fios.J 


(t  highways.  They  were  to  inquire  how  this  money  was  dis- 
"  tributed  ;  and,  if  they  saw  cause,  they  might  order  it  to  be 
"  applied  to  any  other  use  which  they  should  judge  more 
"  charitable  and  convenient."  But  what  followed  upon  this 
does  not  appear  by  the  records. 

After  the  pai'liament  was  dissolved,  the  universities  made 
their  applications  to  the  king,  that  they  might  not  be  included 
within  the  general  words  in  the  act  of  dissolution  of  colleges 
and  fraternities.  And  Dr.  Cox,  tutor  to  the  prince,  wrote  to 
secretary  Paget,  "  to  represent  to  the  king  the  great  want  of 
"  schools,  preachers,  and  houses  for  orphans ;  that  beggary  349 
"  would  drive  the  clergy  to  flattery,  superstition,  and  the  old 
"  idolatry :  there  were  ravenous  wolves  about  the  king,  that 
"  would  devour  universities,  cathedrals,  and  chantries,  and  a 
"  thousand  times  as  much.  Posterity  would  wonder  at  such 
"  things :  therefore  he  desired  the  universities  might  be 
"  secured  from  their  spoils."  But  the  king  did  quickly  free 
them  from  these  fears. 

Now  I  enter  into  the  last  year  of  this  king's  reign.  The 
war  in  France  was  managed  with  doubtful  success;  yet  the 
losses  were  greater  on  the  English  side.  And  the  forces  being 
commanded  by  the  earl  of  Surrey,  who  was  brave,  but  unsuc- 
cessful, he  was  not  only  blamed,  but  recalled  ;  and  the  earl  of 
Hertford  sent  to  command  in  his  room.  But  he,  being  a  man 
of  an  high  spirit,  and  disdaining  the  earl  of  Hertford,  who  was 
nowr  preferred  before  him,  let  fall  some  words  of  high  resent- 
ment and  bitter  contempt,  which  not  long  after  wrought  his 
ruin.  The  king  was  now  alone  in  the  war,  which  was  very 
chargeable  to  him  ;  and  observing  the  progress  that  the  council 
of  Trent  was  making,  where,  cardinal  Pole  being  one  of  the 
legates,  he  had  reason  to  look  for  some  severe  decree  to  be 
made  against  himself,  since  none  of  the  heretics  of  Germany 
were  so  much  hated  by  the  court  of  Rome  as  he  was :  there- 
fore he  listened  to  the  counsels  of  peace.  And  though  he  was 
not  old,  yet  he  felt  such  decays  in  his  strength,  that,  being  ex- 
tremely corpulent,  he  had  no  reason  to  think  he  could  live 
very  long :  therefore,  that  he  might  not  leave  his  young  son 
involved  in  a  war  of  such  consequence,  peace  was  concluded 
in  June ;  which  was  much  to  the  king's  honour,  though  the 
taking  and  keeping  of  Boulogne  (which,  by  this  peace,  the 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1546.)  535 

king  was  to  keep  for  eight  years)  cost  him  above  one  million 
three  hundred  thousand  pounds. 

Upon  the  peace,  the  French  admiral  Annebault  came  over  A  new  de- 
to  England.     And  now  again  a  resolution  of  going  on  with  a  formation6 
reformation  was  set  on  foot ;   for  it  was  agreed  between  the  [Herbert, 
king  and  the  admiral  that  in  both  kingdoms  the  mass  should 
be  changed  into  a  communion  ;    and  Cranmer  was  ordered  to 
draw  a  form  of  it.     They  also  resolved  to  press  the  emperor 
to  do  the  like  in  his  dominions,  otherwise  to  make  war  upon 
him  :  but  how  this  project  failed,  does  not  appear.     The  ani- 
mosities, which  the  former  war  had  raised  between  the  two 
kings,  were  converted  into  a  firm  friendship ;  which  grew  so 
strong  on  Francis'  part,  that  he  never  was  seen  glad  at  any  [ibid, 
thing,  after  he  had  the  news  of  the  king's  death.  p'     7-J 

But  now  one  of  the  king's  angry  fits  took  him  at  the  refor-  Shaxton's 
mers,  so  that  there  was  a  new  prosecution  of  them.  Nicholas  apos  asy' 
Shaxton,  that  was  bishop  of  Salisbury,  had  been  long  a  pri- 
soner ;  but  this  year,  he  had  said  in  his  imprisonment,  in  the 
Counter  in  Bread-street,  that  Christ's  natural  body  ivas  not 
in  the  sacrament,  but  that  it  was  a  sign  and  memorial  of  his 
body  that  was  crucified  for  us.  Upon  this  he  was  indicted, 
and  condemned  to  be  burnt.  But  the  king  sent  the  bishops  of 
London  and  Worcester  to  deal  with  him  to  recant ;  which,  on 
the  ninth  of  July,  he  did,  acknowledging,  "  that  that  year  he 
"  had  fallen,  in  his  old  age,  in  the  heresy  of  the  Sacramenta- 
"  ries  :  but  that  he  was  now  convinced  of  that  error,  by  their 
"  endeavours  whom  the  king  had  sent  to  him.  And  therefore 
341  "  he  thanked  the  king  for  delivering  him,  both  from  temporal 
"  and  eternal  fire  ;"  and  subscribed  a  paper  of  articles,  which 
will  be  found  in  the  Collection.  Upon  this,  he  had  his  pardon  Collect. 
and  discharge  sent  him  the  thirteenth  of  July,  and  soon  after  Numb. 28- 

&  .  [Fux,  vol. 

preached  the  sermon  at  the  burning  of  Anne  Askew  ;  and  ii.  p.  489.] 
wrote  a  book  in  defence  of  the  articles  he  had  subscribed. 
What  became  of  him  all  Edward  the  Sixth's  time,  I  cannot 
tell :  but  I  find  he  was  a  cruel  prosecutor  and  burner  of 
protestants  in  queen  Mary's  days.  Yet  it  seems  those  to  whom 
he  went  over  did  not  consider  him  much,  for  they  never  raised 
him  higher  than  to  be  bishop  suffragan  of  Ely1.     Others  were 

1  For  '  suffragan  to  the  bishop  of  Ely.'    [G.] 


536  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

also  indicted  upon  the  same  statute,  who  got  off  by  recantation, 

and  were  pardoned.     But  Anne   Askew's   trial   had  a  more 

bloody  conclusion. 

The  trou-         She  was  nobly  descended,  and  educated  beyond  what  was 

Anne  As-    ordinary  in  that  age  to  those  of  her  sex.     But  she  was  un- 

kew.  fortunately  married  to  one  Kyme,  who,  being  a  violent  papist, 

ii.  p/483.]   drave  her  out  of  his  house,  when  he  found  she  favoured  the 

reformation.      So    she    came   to    London,   where   information 

being  given  of  some  words  that  she  had  spoken  against  the 

corporal  presence  in  the  sacrament,  she  was  put  in  prison  ; 

upon  which  great  applications  were  made   by  many  of  her 

friends,  to  have  her  let  out  upon  bail.     The  bishop  of  London 

examined  her,  and,  after  much  pains,  she  was  brought  to  set 

her  hand  to  a  recantation,  by  which  she  acknowledged,  that 

[Ibid.  p.      "  the  natural  bodv  of  Christ   was  present  in  the  sacrament, 

,0-1  *  *■ 

"  after  the  consecration,  whether  the  priest  were  a  good  or  an 
"  ill  man ;  and  that,  whether  it  was  presently  consumed  or 
"  reserved  in  the  pix,  it  was  the  true  body  of  Christ."  Yet 
she  added  to  her  subscription,  that  she  believed  all  things 
according  to  the  catholic  faith,  and  not  otherwise.  With  this 
the  bishop  was  not  satisfied  ;  but,  after  much  ado,  and  many 
importunate  addresses,  she  was  bailed  in  the  end  of  March  this 
year.  But,  not  long  after  that,  she  was  again  apprehended, 
[Ibid.  p.  and  examined  before  the  king's  council,  then  at  Greenwich, 
4     J  where  she  seemed  very  indifferent  what   they  did  with  her. 

She  answered  them  in  general  words,  upon  which  they  could 
fix  nothing,  and  made  some  sharp  repartees  upon  the  bishop  of 
Winchester.  Some  liked  the  wit  and  freedom  of  her  discourse, 
but  others  thought  she  was  too  forward.  From  thence  she 
was  sent  to  Newgate,  where  she  wrote  some  devotions  and 
letters,  that  shew  her  to  have  been  a  woman  of  most  extraor- 
dinary parts.  She  wrote  to  the  king,  "  that,  as  to  the  Lord's 
"  Supper,  she  believed  as  much  as  Christ  had  said  in  it,  and 
"  as  much  as  the  catholic  church  from  him  did  teach."  Upon 
[Ibid.  p.  Shaxton's  recantation,  they  sent  him  to  her  to  prevail  with  her. 
But  she,  instead  of  yielding  to  him,  charged  his  inconstancy 
home  upon  him.  She  had  been  oft  at  court,  and  was  much 
favoured  by  many  great  ladies  there  ;  and  it  was  believed  the 
queen  had  shewed  kindness  to  her.  So  the  lord  chancellor 
'examined  her  of  what  favour  or  encouragement  she  had  from 


'•] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1546.)  537 

any  in  the  court,  particularly  from  the  duchess  of  Suffolk,  the 
countess  of  Hertford,  and  some  other  ladies.  But  he  could 
draw  nothing  from  her,  save  that  one  in  livery  had  brought 
her  some  money,  which,  he  said,  came  from  two  ladies  in  the 
court.  But  they  resolved  to  extort  further  confessions  from 
her.  And  therefore  carrying  her  to  the  Tower,  they  caused 
her  to  be  laid  on  the  rack,  and  gave  her  a  taste  of  it.  Yet  she 
confessed  nothing.  That  she  was  racked  is  very  certain  ;  for 
I  find  it  in  an  original  journal  of  the  transactions  in  the  Tower, 
342  written  by  Anthony  Anthony.  But  Fox  adds  a  passage  that  [Fox,  vol. 
seems  scarce  credible  - ;  the  thing  is  so  extraordinary,  and  so 
unlike  the  character  of  the  lord  chancellor,  who,  though 
he  was  fiercely  zealous  for  the  old  superstition,  yet  was  other- 
wise a  great  person  :  it  is.  that  he  commanded  the  lieutenant  She  en- 
of  the  Tower  to  stretch  her  more  ;  but  he  refused  to  do  it ;  and,  r^k  G 
being  further  pressed,  told  him  plainly  he  would  not  do  it. 
The  other  threatened  him,  but  to  no  purpose  ;  so  the  lord 
chancellor,  throwing  off  his  gown,  drew  the  rack  so  severely, 
that  he  almost  tore  her  body  asunder  ;  yet  could  draw  nothing 
from  her,  for  she  endured  it  with  unusual  patience  and  courage. 
When  the  king  heard  this,  he  blamed  the  lord  chancellor  for 
his  cruelty,  and  excused  the  lieutenant  of  the  Tower.  Fox 
does  not  vouch  any  warrant  for  this,  so  that  though  I  have  set 
it  dowji,  yet  I  give  no  entire  credit  to  it.  If  it  was  true,  it 
shews  the  strange  influence  of  that  religion,  and  that  it  corrupts 
the  noblest  natures.  Yet  the  poor  gentlewoman's  being  racked 
wrought  no  pity  in  the  king  towards  her,  for  he  left  her  to  be 
proceeded  against  according  to  the  sentence  :  she  was  carried 
to  the  stake  in  Smithfield  a  little  after  that  in  a  chair,  not 
being  able  to  stand  through  the  torments  of  the  rack.  There  And  is 
were  brought  with  her,  at  the  same  time,  one  Nicolas  Bele-  burnt>  Wlth 

°  m  some 

nian,  a  priest ;  John  Adams,  a  tailor  ;  and  John  Lascelles,  one  others. 
of  the  king's  servants ;   (it  is  likely  he  was  the  same  person  ^  8  lcv  p* 
that  had  discovered  queen  Catharine  Howard's  incontinency, 

2  Fox  sets  down  a  confession  of  racking  her  with   his   own   hands. 

Anne  Askew's,  (perhaps  Ascough  So  there  is  no  reason  to  question 

was  her  right  name,  for  so  is  the  the  truth  of  it ;  and  Parsons,  who 

name  of  the  family  in  Lincolnshire  detracts  as  much  from  Fox's  credit 

written,)  in  which  she  herself  relates  as  he  can,  does  not  question  this 

this  passage  of  the  lord  chancellor's  particular.  [F.] 


538  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

for  which  all  the  popish  party,  to  be  sure,  bore  him  no  good- 
will.) They  were  all  convicted,  upon  the  statute  of  the  six 
articles,  for  denying  the  corporal  presence  of  Christ  in  the 
[Ibid.]  sacrament.  When  they  were  brought  thitber,  Shaxton,  to 
complete  his  apostasy,  made  a  sermon  of  the  sacrament,  and 
inveighed  against  their  errors.  That  being  ended,  they  were 
tied  to  the  stake  ;  and  then  the  lord  chancellor  sent  and  offered 
them  their  pardon,  which  was  ready  passed  under  the  seal,  if 
they  would  recant.  But  they  loved  not  their  lives  so  well  as 
k>  redeem  them  by  the  loss  of  a  good  conscience ;  and  there- 
fore, encouraging  one  another  to  suffer  patiently  for  the  testi- 
mony of  the  truth,  so  they  endured  to  the  last,  and  were  made 
sacrifices  by  fire  unto  God.  There  were  also  two  in  Suffolk, 
and  one  in  Norfolk,  burnt,  on  the  same  account,  a  little  before 
this. 
A  new  de-  But  that  party  at  court,  having  incensed  the  king  much 
against  against  those  heretics,  resolved  to  drive  it  further,  and  to  work 
Cranmer.  the  ruin  both  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  of  the 
iii.  1^538]  queen  :  concluding,  that,  if  these  attempts  were  successful,  they 
should  carry  every  thing  else.  They  therefore  renewed  their 
complaints  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  and  told  the 
king,  that,  though  there  were  evident  proofs  ready  to  be 
brought  against  him,  yet,  because  of  his  greatness,  and  the 
king's  carriage  upon  the  former  complaints,  none  durst  appear 
against  him.  But  if  he  were  once  put  in  the  Tower,  that  men 
might  hope  to  be  heard,  they  undertook  to  bring  full  and  clear 
evidences  of  his  being  a  heretic.  So  the  king  consented,  that 
he  should  be  the  next  day  called  before  the  council,  and  sent 
to  the  Tower,  if  they  saw  cause  for  it.  And  now  they  con- 
cluded him  ruined.  But  in  the  night  the  king  sent  sir  Anthony 
Denny  to  Lambeth,  to  bring  the  archbishop  to  speak  with 
him.  And  when  he  came,  the  king  told  him  what  informations 
had  been  brought  against  him,  and  how  far  he  had  yielded  to  343 
them,  that  he  should  be  sent  to  the  Tower  next  day  :  and 
therefore  desired  to  hear  from  himself  what  he  had  to  say 
upon  it.  Cranmer  thanked  him,  that  he  had  not  left  him 
in  the  dark,  to  be  surprised  in  a  matter  that  concerned  him  so 
nearly.  He  acknowledged  the  equity  of  the  king's  proceed- 
ings ;  and  all  that  he  desired  was,  that  he  might  be  brought 
to  make  his  answer :  and  that,  since  he  was  to  be  questioned 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1.546.)  539 

for  some  of  his  opinions,  judges  might  be  assigned  who  under- 
stood those  matters.  The  king  heard  this  with  astonishment, 
wondering  to  see  a  man  so  little  concerned  in  his  own  preser- 
vation :  "  but  pleasantly  told  him,  he  was  a  fool  that  looked  to  The  king's 
"  his  own  safety  so  little.  For  did  he  think,  that,  if  he  were  fjehahtncare 
"  once  put  in  prison,  abundance  of  false  witnesses  would  not  be  [Ibid.  p. 
"  suborned  to  ruin  him  ?  Therefore,  since  he  did  not  take  care  9J 
"  of  himself,  he  would  look  to  it."  And  so  he  ordered  him  to 
appear  next  day  before  the  council,  upon  their  summons ; 
and,  when  things  were  objected  to  him,  to  say,  that  since  he 
was  a  privy  counsellor,  he  desired  they  would  use  him  as  they 
Avould  look  to  be  used  in  the  like  case :  and  therefore  to  move, 
that  his  accusers  might  be  brought  face  to  face,  and  things  be 
a  little  better  considered  before  he  was  sent  to  the  Tower. 
And  if  they  refused  to  grant  that,  then  he  was  to  appeal 
personally  to  the  king,  (who  intended  to  be  absent  that  day,) 
and,  in  token  of  it,  should  shew  them  the  king's  seal-ring, 
which  he  wore  on  his  finger,  and  was  well  known  to  them  all. 
So  the  king,  giving  him  his  ring,  sent  him  privately  home 
again.  Next  morning  a  messenger  of  the  council  came  early, 
and  summoned  him  to  appear  that  day  before  the  council.  So 
he  went  over,  but  was  long  kept  waiting  in  the  lobby,  before 
he  was  called  in.  At  this  unusual  sight  many  were  astonished. 
But  doctor  Butt3  the  king's  physician,  that  loved  Cranmer, 
and  presumed  more  on  a  diseased  king  than  others  durst  do, 
went  and  told  the  king  what  a  strange  thing  he  had  seen : 
"  the  primate  of  all  England  waiting  at  the  council-door, 
"  among  the  footmen  and  servants."  So  the  king  sent  them 
word,  that  he  should  be  presently  brought  in  ;  which  being 
done,  they  said,  that  there  were  many  informations  against 
him,  that  all  the  heresies  that  were  in  England  came  from  him 
and  his  chaplains.  To  which  he  answered  as  the  king  had 
directed  him.  But  they  insisting  on  what  was  before  projected, 
he  said,  He  was  sorry  to  be  thus  used  by  those  with  whom  he 
had  sat  so  long  at  that  board,  so  that  he  must  appeal  from  them 
to  the  king  :  and  with  that  took  out  the  Icing's  ring,  and 
shewed  it.     This  put  them  in  a  wonderful  confusion;  but  they 

3  [This  name  is  variously  spelt  adopted  from  his  own  signature  in  a 
Buts,  Butts,  and  Buttes.  The  letter  which  appears  in  the  State 
spelling     in     the    text    has    been     Papers,  vol.  i.  p.  572.] 


540 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


Antiq. 
Brit,  in 
Vita 
Cranmer. 
[PP-  503, 
504-] 


Another 
design  a- 
gainst  the 
queen. 
[Fox,  vol. 
ii.  p.  491.] 


all  rose  up  and  went  to  the  king,  Avho  checked  them  "  severely 
"  for  using  the  archbishop  so  unhandsomely.  He  said,  he 
"  thought  he  had  a  wiser  council,  than  now  he  found  they 
"  were.  He  protested,  by  the  faith  he  owed  to  God,  laying 
"  his  hand  on  his  breast,  that  if  a  prince  could  be  obliged 
"  by  his  subject,  he  was  by  the  archbishop  ;  and  that  he  took 
"  him  to  be  the  most  faithful  subject  he  had,  and  the  person  to 
"  whom  he  was  most  beholding."  The  duke  of  Norfolk  made 
a  trifling  excuse,  and  said,  they  meant  no  harm  to  the  arch- 
bishop, but  only  to  vindicate  his  innocency  by  such  a  trial, 
which  would  have  freed  him  from  the  aspersions  that  were  cast 
on  him.  But  the  king  answered,  he  would  not  suffer  men,  that  344 
were  so  dear  to  him,  to  be  handled  in  that  fashion.  He  knew 
the  factions  that  were  among  them,  and  the  malice  that  some  - 
of  them  bore  to  others,  which  he  would  either  extinguish 
or  punish  very  speedily.  So  he  commanded  them  all  to  be 
reconciled  to  Cranmer ;  which  was  done  with  the  outward 
ceremony  of  taking  him  by  the  hand  ;  and  was  most  real 
on  his  part,  though  the  other  party  did  not  so  easily  lay  down 
the  hatred  they  bore  him.  This  I  place  at  this  time,  though 
Parker,  who  related  it,  names  no  year  nor  time  in  which  it  was  ^ 
done ;  but  he  leads  us  very  near  it,  by  saying,  it  was  after  the 
duke  of  Suffolk's  death4  ;  and  this  being  the  only  time  after 
that  in  which  the  king  was  in  an  ill  humour  against  the 
reformers,  I  conclude  it  fell  out  at  this  time. 

That  party,  finding  it  was  in  vain  to  push  at  Cranmer  any 
more,  did  never  again  endeavour  it.  Yet  one  design  failing, 
they  set  on  another  against  the  queen.  She  was  a  great 
favourer  of  the  reformers,  and  had  frequently  sermons  in  her 
privy-chamber  by  some  of  those  preachers ;  which  were  not 
secretly  carried,  but  became  generally  known.  When  it  came 
to  the  king's  ears,  he  took  no  notice  of  it.  And  the  queen 
carried  herself,  in  all  other  things,  not  only  with  an  exact 
conduct,  but  with  that  wonderful  care  about  the  king's  person, 
which  became  a  wife  that  was  raised  by  him  to  so  great  an 


4  The  story  concerning  Cranmer 
must  belong  to  the  former  year,  for 
Butt,  that  bore  a  share  in  it,  died 
on  the  seventeenth  of  November, 
1545,  as  appears  by  the  inscription 
on  his  tombstone  in  Fulham  church. 


So  this  passage  being  after  the 
duke  of  Suffolk's  death,  which  was 
in  August  that  year,  this  must  be 
placed  between  August  and  No- 
vember 1545.    [F.] 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1546.)  541 

honour,  that  he  was  much  taken  with  her  :  so  that  none  durst 
adventure  on  making  any  complaints  against  her.  Yet  the 
king's  distempers  increasing,  and  his  peevishness  growing  with 
them,  he  became  more  uneasy  ;  and  whereas  she  had  frequently 
used  to  talk  to  him  of  religion,  and  defended  the  opinion  of 
the  reformers,  in  which  he  would  sometimes  pleasantly  main- 
tain the  argument ;  now,  becoming  more  impatient,  he  took  it 
ill  at  her  hands.  And  she  had  sometimes,  in  the  heat  of 
discourse,  gone  very  far.  So  one  night,  after  she  had  left  him,  [ibid.  p. 
the  king,  being  displeased,  vented  it  to  the  bishop  of  Win-  492J 
Chester,  that  stood  by :  and  he  craftily  and  maliciously  struck 
in  with  the  king's  anger,  and  said  all  that  he  could  devise 
against  the  queen,  to  drive  his  resentments  higher ;  and  took 
in  the  lord  chancellor  into  the  design  to  assist  him.  They 
filled  the  king's  head  with  many  stories  of  his  queen,  and  some 
of  her  ladies ;  and  said,  they  had  favoured  Anne  Askew,  and 
had  heretical  books  amongst  them  ;  and  he  persuaded  the  king 
that  they  were  traitors  as  well  as  heretics.  The  matter  went 
so  far,  that  articles  were  drawn  against  her,  which  the  king 
signed ;  for  without  that  it  was  not  safe  for  any  to  impeach  the 
queen.  But  the  lord  chancellor  putting  up  that  paper  carelessly,  [Ibid.  p. 
it  dropped  from  him  ;  and  being  taken  up  by  one  of  the  queen's 
party,  was  carried  to  her.  Whether  the  king  had  really 
designed  her  ruin  or  not,  is  differently  represented  by  the 
writers  who  lived  near  that  time  :  but  she,  seeing  his  hand  to 
such  a  paper,  had  reason  to  conclude  herself  lost.  Yet,  by 
advice  of  one  of  her  friends,  she  went  to  see  the  king,  who 
received  her  kindly,  and  set  on  a  discourse  about  religion. 
But  she  answered,  that  women,  by  their  first  creation,  were 
made  subject  to  men ;  and  they,  being  made  after  the  image  of 
God,  as  the  women  were  after  their  image,  ought  to  instruct 
their  wives,  who  were  to  learn  of  them ;  and  she  much  more 
was  to  be  taught  by  his  majesty,  who  was  a  prince  of  such 
345  excellent  learning  and  wisdom.  Not  so  by  St.  Mart/,  said  the 
king,  you  are  become  a  doctor  able  to  instruct  us,  and  not  to 
be  instructed  by  us.  To  which  she  answered,  that  it  seemed 
he  had  much  mistaken  the  freedom  she  had  taken  to  argue 
with  him,  since  she  did  it  partly  to  engage  him  in  discourse, 
and  so  put  over  the  time,  and  make  him  forget  his  pain  ;  and 
partly  to  receive   instructions  from  him,   by  which  she   had 


542  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti, 

[Ibid.  i>.  profited  much.  And  is  it  even  so  ?  said  the  king  ;  then  we  are 
494'J  friends  again.  So  he  embraced  her  with  great  affection,  and 
sent  her  away  with  very  tender  assurances  of  his  constant  love 
to  her.  But  the  next  day  had  been  appointed  for  carrying 
her,  and  some  of  her  ladies,  to  the  Tower.  The  day  being 
fair,  the  king  went  to  take  a  little  air  in  the  garden,  and  sent 
for  her  to  bear  him  company.  As  they  were  together,  the 
lord  chancellor  came  in,  having  about  forty  of  the  guard  with 
him,  to  have  arrested  the  queen.  But  the  king  stepped  aside 
to  him,  and,  after  a  little  discourse,  he  was  heard  to  call  him 
knave,  fool,  and  beast ,  and  he  bade  him  get  him  out  of  his  sight. 
The  innocent  queen,  who  understood  not  that  her  danger  was 
so  near,  studied  to  mitigate  the  king's  displeasure,  and  inter- 
ceded for  the  lord  chancellor.  But  the  king  told  her,  she  had 
no  reason  to  plead  for  him. 

So  this  design  miscarried  ;  which,  as  it  absolutely  disheart- 
ened the  papists,  so  it  did  totally  alienate  the  king  from  them  ; 
and  in  particular  from  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  whose  sight 
he  could  never  after  this  endure.  But  he  made  an  humble 
submission  to  the  king,  which,  though  it  preserved  him  from 
further  punishment,  yet  could  not  restore  him  to  the  king's 
The  cause  favour.  But  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  and  his  son  the  earl  of 
ofNorfolk's  Surrey>  fell  under  a  deeper  misfortune.  The  duke  of  Norfolk 
disgrace,  had  been  long  lord  treasurer  of  England  :  he  had  done  great 
services  to  the  crown  on  many  signal  occasions,  and  success 
had  always  accompanied  him.  His  son,  the  earl  of  Surrey, 
was  also  a  brave  and  noble  person,  witty  and  learned  to  an 
high  degree,  but  did  not  command  armies  with  such  success. 
He  was  much  provoked  at  the  earl  of  Hertford's  being  sent 
over  to  France  in  his  room,  and  upon  that  had  said,  that 
within  a  little  while  they  should  smart  for  it ;  with  some 
other  expressions  that  savoured  of  revenge,  and  a  dislike 
of  the  king,  and  a  hatred  of  the  counsellors.  The  duke  of 
Norfolk  had  endeavoured  to  ally  himself  to  the  earl  of 
Hertford,  and  to  his  brother  sir  Thomas  Seymour,  perceiving 
how  much  they  were  in  the  king's  favour,  and  how  great  an 
interest  they  were  like  to  have  under  the  succeeding  prince  : 
and  therefore  would  have  engaged  his  son,  being  then  a 
widower,  to  marry  that  earl's  daughter ;  and  pressed  his 
daughter,    the    duchess  of  Richmond,    widow    to   the    king's 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1546.)  545 

natural  son,  to  marry  sir  Thomas  Seymour.     But  though  the 
earl  of  Surrey  advised  his  sister  to  the  marriage  projected  for 
her,  yet  he  would  not  consent  to  that  designed  for  himself; 
nor    did   the    proposition   about  his   sister  take  effect.     The 
Seymours  could  not  but  see  the  enmity  the  earl  of  Surrey  bore 
them  ;  and  they  might  well  be  jealous  of  the  greatness  of  that 
family,  which  was  not  only  too  big  for  a  subject  of  itself,  but 
was  raised  so  high   by  the  dependence  of  the  whole  popish 
party,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  that  they  were  like  to  bo 
346  very  dangerous  competitors  for  the  chief  government  of  affairs, 
if  the  king  were  once  out  of  the  way  ;    whose  disease  was  now 
growing  so  fast  upon  him,  that  he  could  not  live  many  weeks. 
Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  they  persuaded  the  king,  that,  if  the 
carl  of  Surrey  should  marry  the  lady  Mary,  it  might  embroil 
his   sons  government,  and  perhaps  ruin    him.     And   it   was 
suggested,  that  he  had  some  such  high  project  in  his  thoughts, 
both  by  his  continuing  unmarried5,  and  by  his  using  the  arms 
of  Edward  the  Confessor,  which  of  late  he  had  given  in  his  [Herbert, 
coat  without  a  diminution.     But,    to    complete  the  duke    of 
Norfolk's  ruin,  his  duchess,  who  had  complained  of  his  using 
her  ill,  and  had  been  separated  from  him  about  four  years, 
turned  informer  against  him.     His  son  and  daughter  were  also 
in  ill  terms  together :    so  the  sister  informed  all  that  she  could 
against  her  brother.     And  one  Mrs.  Holland,  for   whom  the 
duke  was  believed  to  have  an  unlawful  affection,  discovered  all 
she  knew  :   but  all  amounted  to  no  more  than  some  passionate 
expressions  of  the  son,  and  some  complaints  of  the  father,  who 
thought  he  was  not  beloved  by  the  king  and  his  counsellors, 
and  that  ho  was  ill  used,  in  not  being  trusted  with  the  secret 
of  affairs.     And  all  persons  being  encouraged  to  bring  informa- 
tions against  them,  sir  Richard  Southwell  charged  the  earl  of* 
Surrey  in  some  points  that  were  of  a  higher  nature  :  which  the 
carl  denied,  and   desired  to    be  admitted,   according   to    the 
martial  law,  to  fight  in  his  shirt  with  Southwell.     But  that  not 
being  granted,  he  and  his  father  were  committed  to  the  Tower. 
That  which  was  most  insisted  on  was,  their  giving  the  arms  of 
Edward  the  Confessor,   which  were  only  to  be  given  by  the 

5  The   earl   of  Surrey   had    not     ampton,   is    said   to   have   been  at 
lived  long  a  widower,  for  his  young-      nurse  at  his  father's  death.     [F.] 
est  son,  afterwards  earl  of  North- 


5U  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

kings  of  England.  This  the  earl  of  Surrey  j ustified  ;  and  said, 
they  gave  their  arms  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  king's 
heralds.  But  all  excuses  availed  nothing  ;  for  his  father  and 
he  were  designed  to  be  destroyed  upon  reasons  of  state,  for 
which  some  colours  were  to  be  found  out. 
1547-  The  earl  of  Surrey,  being  but  a  commoner,  was  brought  to 

The  earl  of  his  trial  at  Guildhall ;    and  put  upon  an  inquest  of  commoners, 
cutedf        consisting  of  nine  knights  and  three  esquires,  by  whom  he  was 
found  guilty  of  treason,  and  had  sentence  of  death  passed 
upon  him,  which  was  executed  on  the  nineteenth  of  January  at 
Tower-hill.     It  was  generally  condemned  as  an  act  of  high 
injustice   and  severity,   which    loaded  the   Seymours    with    a 
popular  odium,  that  they  could  never  overcome.    He  was  much 
pitied,  being  a  man  of  great  parts  and  high  courage,  with  many 
other  noble  qualities. 
The  duke's      But  the  king,  who  never  hated   nor  ruined  any  body  by 
to  theSS1°n  nalyes>  resolved  to  complete  the  misfortunes  of  that  family  by 
king-  the  attainder  of  the  father.     And  as  all  his  eminent  services 

p.  627.]  '  were  now  forgotten,  so  the  submissions  he  made  could  not 
allay  a  displeasure,  that  was  only  to  be  satisfied  with  his  life 
and  fortune.  He  wrote  to  the  king,  protesting  his  innocency  : 
"  that  he  had  never  a  thought  to  his  prejudice,  and  could  not 
"  imagine  what  could  be  laid  to  his  charge.  He  had  spent 
"  his  whole  life  in  his  service,  and  did  not  know  that  ever  he 
"  had  offended  any  person ;  or  that  any  were  displeased  with 
"  him,  except  for  prosecuting  the  breakers  of  the  act  about  the 
"  sacrament  of  the  altar.  But  in  that,  and  in  everything 
"  else,  as  he  had  been  always  obedient  to  the  king's  laws,  so 
"  lie  was  resolved  still  to  obey  any  laws  he  should  make.  He 
"  desired  he  might  be  examined  with  his  accusers  face  to  face,  347 
"  before  the  king,  or  at  least  before  his  council ;  and  if  it  did 
"  not  appear  that  he  was  wrongfully  accused,  let  him  bo 
"  punished  as  he  deserved.  In  conclusion,  he  begged  the  king 
"  would  have  pity  on  him,  and  restore  him  to  his  favour  ; 
"  taking  all  his  lands  or  goods  from  him,  or  as  much  of  them 
[Herbert,  "  as  he  pleased."  Yet  all  this  had  no  effect  on  the  king.  So 
he  was  desired  to  make  a  more  formal  submission  ;  which  he 
did  on  the  twelfth  of  January  under  his  hand,  ten  privy  coun- 
sellors being  witnesses.  In  it  he  confessed,  "First,  his  dis- 
"  covering  the  secrets  of  the  king's  council      Secondly,    his 


book  in.]  THE    REFORMATION.     (1547.)  545 

"  concealing  liis  son's  treason,  in  using  to  give  the  arms  of 
"  St.  Edward  the  Confessor,  which  did  only  belong  to  the 
"  king,  and  to  which  his  son  had  no  right.  Thirdly,  that  he 
"  had,  ever  since  his  father's  death,  borne,  in  the  first 
"  quarter  of  his  arras,  the  arms  of  England  ;  with  the  dif- 
"  ference  of  the  labels  of  silver,  that  are  the  proper  arms  of  s 
"  the  prince ;  which  was  done  in  prejudice  of  the  king  and 
"  the  prince,  and  gave  occasion  for  disturbing  or  interrupting 
"  the  succession  to  the  crown  of  the  realm.  This  he  ac- 
"  knowledged  was  high  treason  ;  he  confessed  he  deserved 
"  to  be  attainted  of  high  treason,  and  humbly  begged  the 
"  king's  mercy  and  compassion."  He  yielded  to  all  this, 
hoping,  by  such  a  submission  and  compliance,  to  have  overcome 
the  king's  displeasure.     But  his  expectations  failed  him. 

A  parliament  was  called,  the  reason  whereof  was  pretended  to  The  par- 
be  the  coronation6  of  the  prince  of  Wales.    But  it  was  thought  ^^^ 
the  true  cause  of  calling  it  was,  to  attaint  the  duke  of  Norfolk  ;  [Jan.  14.] 
for  which  they  had  not  colour  enough  to  do  it  in  a  trial  by  his 
peers  ;  therefore  an  attainder  by  act  of  parliament  was  thought 
the  better  way.     So  it  was  moved,  that  the  king,  intending  to 
crown  his  son,  prince  of  Wales,  desired  they  would  go  on  with 
all  possible  haste  in  the  attainder  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk  ;  that 
so  these  places,  which  he  held  by  patent,  might  be  disposed  of 
by  the  king  to  such  as  he  thought  fit,  who  should  assist  at  the 
coronation.     And   upon  this    slight  pretence,  since   a   better 
could  not  be  found,  the  bill  of  attainder  was  read  the  first  time  [Journals 
on   the  eighteenth   of  January  ;   and  on  the  nineteenth    and  pp  2g. ' ' 
twentieth  it  was  read  the  second  and  third  time;  and  so  passed  286d 
in  the  house  of  lords,  and  was  sent  down  to  the  commons,  who, 
on  the  twenty -fourth,  sent  it  up  also  passed.     On  the  twenty-  The  Juke 
seventh  the  lords  were  ordered  to  be  in  their  robes,  that  the  attainted. 
royal  assent  might  be  given  to  it ;    which  the  lord  chancellor,  lIbid-  PP- 

"  f  »  287)  289.] 

6  I   think  creation  is   the  usual  dicti  ducis  in  alios  conferri  possent 

term  at  this  solemnity.    [B.]  et  pleno  jure  per  alios  exerceri,  in 

[See  Lords'  Journals,  p.  289,  from  sacratissimam    solemnitatem    coro- 

which  it  appears  that  the  lords  and  nationis  Edwardi  Principis  quae  jam 

commons   were  summoned  on  the  instat;    cui  quidem  billse  omnes  et 

27th   of  January   to   expedite   the  proceres   et  communes  jamdudum 

attainder  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk. —  consenserant."] 
"  Maxime  vero  ut  ofticia  qua?dam 

BURNET,  PART  I.  N  11 


54C)  THE   HISTORY    OF  [.-art  i. 

with  some  others  joined  in  commission,  did  give  by  virtue  of 
the  king's  letters  patents.  And  it  had  been  executed  the  next 
morning,  if  the  king's  death  had  not  prevented  it.  Upon  what 
grounds  this  attainder  was  founded,  I  can  only  give  this 
account  from  the  thirty-fourth  act  of  the  first  parliament 
of  queen  Mary  ;  in  which  this  act  is  declared  null  and  void  by 
the  common  law  of  the  land  :  for  I  cannot  find  the  act  itself 
upon  record.  In  the  act  of  repeal  it  is  said,  "  That  there  was 
"  no  special  matter  in  the  act  of  attainder,  but  only  general 
"  words  of  treasons  and  conspiracies ;  and  that,  out  of  their 
"  care  of  the  preservation  of  the  king  and  the  prince,  they 
"  passed  it.  But  the  act  of  repeal  says  also,  that  the  only 
"  thing  with  which  he  was  charged  was,  for  bearing  of  arms, 
"  which  he  and  his  ancestors  had  borne,  both  within  and  with- 
"  out  the  kingdom  ;  both  in  the  king's  presence,  and  in  the  348 
"  sight  of  his  progenitors,  which  they  might  lawfully  bear  and 
"  give,  as  by  good  and  substantial  matter  of  record  it  did 
"  appear.  It  is  also  added,  that  the  king  died  after  the 
"  date  of  the  commission  ;  that  the  king  only  empowered  them 
"  to  give  his  assent,  but  did  not  give  it  himself;  and  that  it  did 
"  not  appear  by  any  record  that  they  gave  it.  That  the  king 
"  did  not  sign  the  commission  with  his  own  hand,  his  stamp 
"  being  only  set  to  it,  and  that  not  to  the  upper,  but  the  nether 
"  part  of  it,  contrary  to  the  king's  custom."  All  these  par- 
ticulars, though  cleared  afterwards,  I  mention  now,  because 
they  give  light  to  this  matter. 
His  death  As  soon  as  the  act  was  passed,  a  warrant  was  sent  to  the 
byThe  et  lieutenant  of  the  Tower  to  cut  off  his  head  the  next  morning ; 
king's.  but  the  king  dying  in  the  night,  the  lieutenant  could  do  nothing 
on  that  warrant.  And  it  seems  it  was  not  thought  advisable 
to  begin  the  new  king's  reign  with  such  an  odious  execution. 
And  thus  the  duke  of  Norfolk  escaped  very  narrowly.  Both 
parties  descanted  on  this  differently.  The  conscientious  papists 
said,  it  was  God's  just  judgment  on  him,  who  had  in  all  things 
followed  the  king's  pleasure,  oftentimes  against  his  own  con- 
science ;  that  he  should  smart  under  that  power,  which  himself 
had  helped  so  considerably  to  make  it  be  raised  so  high.  The 
protestants  could  not  but  observe  an  hand  of  God  in  measuring- 
out  such  a  hard  measure  to  him,  that  was  so  heavy  on  all  those 
poor  people  that  were  questioned  for  heresy.     But  Cranmer's 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.    (1.547.)  547 

carriage  in  this  matter  was  suitable  to  the  other  parts  of  his 
life;  for  he  withdrew  to  Croydon,  and  would  not  so  much  as  be 
present  in  parliament  when  so  unjust  an  act  was  passed ;  and 
his  absence  at  this  time  was  the  more  considerable,  since  the 
king  was  so  dangerously  ill,  that  it  must  be  concluded  it  could 
be  no  slight  cause  that  made  him  withdraw  at  such  a  time. 
But  the  duke  of  Norfolk  had  been  his  constant  enemy  ;  there- 
fore he  would  not  so  much  as  be  near  the  public  councils  when 
so  strange  an  act  was  passing.  But,  at  the  same  time,  the  Fox,  [vol. 
bishop  of  Winchester  was  officiously  hanging  on  in  the  court;  u"  p"  549'^ 
and  though  he  was  forbid  to  come  to  council,  yet  always,  when 
the  counsellors  went  into  the  king's  bedchamber,  he  went  with 
them  to  the  door,  to  make  the  world  believe  he  was  still  one  of 
the  number,  and,  staying  at  the  door  till  the  rest  came  out,  he 
returned  with  them.  But  he  was  absolutely  lost  in  the  king's 
opinion. 

There  is  but  one  other  step  of  foreign  business  in  this  reign  ;  The  em- 
which  was,  an  embassy  sent  over  by  the  duke  of  Saxony,  to  let  p.^ror       ~ 
the  king  know  of  the  league  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor,  gainst  the 
for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  ;  and  that  the  emperor  was  making  ant^ 
war  on  him,  and  the  other  princes,  in  pursuance  of  that  league. 
Therefore  he  desired  the  king's  assistance.     But  at  the  same 
time  the  emperor  did  by  his  agents  every  where  disown  that 
the  war  was  made  upon  a  religious  account ;  and  said,  it  was 
only  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  empire,  which  those  princes 
had  affronted.     So  the  king  answered,   that,  as  soon   as    it 
did  appear  to  him  that  religion  was  the  cause  of  the  war,  he 
would  assist  them.     But  that  which  made  this  so  involved  was, 
that  though  at  Rome  the  pope  declared  it  was  a  holy  war,  and 
349  ordered  prayers  and  processions  to  be  made  for  success ;    yet 
the  emperor  in  all  his  declarations  took  no  notice  of  religion : 
he  had  also  divided  the  protestant  party,  so  that  some  of  them 
joined  with  him,    and  others   were    neutrals.     And  when  in 
Germany  itself  this  matter  was  so  little  understood,  it  was  easy 
to  abuse  strangers  by  giving  them  a  wrong  account  of  it. 

The  king  was  overgrown  with  corpulency  and  fatness,  so  The  king's 
that  he  became  more  and  more  unwieldy.     He  could  not  go  91ckness- 
up  or  down  stairs,  but  as  he  was  raised  up,  or  let  down,  by  an 
engine.     And  an   old  sore  in  his  leg  became  very  uneasy  to 
him  :  so  that  all  the  humours  in  his  body  sinking  down  into  his 

n  n  2 


548  THE  HISTORY  OF  [parti. 

leg,  he  was  much  pained,  and  became  exceeding  froward  and 

intractable,  to   which  his  inexcusable  severity  to  the  duke  of 

Norfolk  and  his  son  may  be  in  a  great  measure  imputed.     His 

servants  durst  scarce  speak  to  him,  to  put  him  in  mind  of  his 

[Fox,  ii.      approaching  end.     And  an  act  of  parliament,  which  was  made 

fet  lib  v     f°r  ^ne  security  of  the  king's  life,  had  some  words  in  it  against 

254-]  the  foretelling  of  his  death,  which  made  every  one  afraid  to 

speak  to  him  of  it ;  lest  he  in  his  angry  and  imperious  humours 

should  have  ordered  them  to  be  indicted  upon  that  statute. 

But  he  felt  nature  declining  apace,  and  so  made  the  will  that 

he  had  left  behind  him  at  his  last  going  into  France  be  written 

over  again,  with  this  only  difference,  that  Gardiner  bishop  of 

Winchester,  whom  he  had  appointed  one  of  the  executors  of 

his  will,  and  of  the  counsellors  to  his  son  till  he  came  of  age, 

was  now  left  out :    of  which  when  sir  Anthony  Brown  put  the 

king   in   mind,    apprehending   it    was    only    an   omission,    he 

answered,  that  he  knew  Gardiner's  temper  well  enough,  and 

though  he  could  govern  him,  yet  none  of  them  would  be  able 

to  do  it ;  and  that  he  would  give  them  much  trouble.     And 

when  Brown,  at  another  time,  repeated  the  motion  to  the  king, 

he  told  him,  if  he  spake  more  of  that,  he  would  strike  him  out 

of  his  will  too.     The  will  was  said  to  be  signed  the  thirtieth  of 

[Fuller,       December.     It  is  printed  at  large  by  Fuller,  and  the  most 

243,  sqq.     material  parts  of  it  by  Heylyn.     So  I  need  say  little  of  it ;  only 

Heylyn,      tne  most  signal  clause  in  it  was,  that  he  excluded  the  line  of 

T)     2 1   SQQ  1 

Scotland  out  of  the  succession,  and  preferred  the  two  daughters 
of  the  French  queen  by  Charles  Brandon  to  them.  And  this 
leads  me  to  discover  several  things  concerning  this  will,  which 
have  been  hitherto  unknown  7.  I  draw  them  from  a  letter 
written  to  sir  William  Cecil,  then  secretary  of  state  to  queen 

7  This  has  been  taken  notice  of  justitise  patrocinium  et  legitimes  in 
by  Lesley,  a  noted  author,  and  your  regnum  successionis  ad  multa  ne- 
lordship's  countryman  ;  and  the  fanda  mala  devitanda,  quse  ilia  cor- 
testimonies  of  my  lord  Paget,  sir  ruptione  ex  illo  figmento,  consecu- 
Edward  Montague,  and  this  Clark  tura  erant,  jussit  exemplar  memo- 
there  appealed  to,  after  follows  : —  riale  supposititii  testamenti  quod 
"  Quse  testimonia  juramento  perhi-  extabat  in  Cancellaria  conscindi, 
bita,  postquam  diligenter  et  cir-  expungi,  aboleri  tanquam  indignum 
cumspecte  perpensa  atque  examina-  quod  inter  vera  et  incorrupta  nobi- 
ta  fuissent,  Maria  regina  de  senten-  lissimi  regni  exemplaria  locum 
tia  Consiliariorum  suorum  ad  hono-  obtineret."  Jo.  Leslanis,  de  titulo  et 
rem   Dei   et   regni  ad   veritatis    et  jure    serenissimi    Principis    Marise 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1547.)  549 

Elizabeth,  (afterwards  lord  Burleigh,)  by  William  Maitland,  of 
Lethingtoun,  secretaiy  of  state  to  the  queen  of  Scotland.  This 
Maitland  was  accounted  a  man  of  the  greatest  parts  of  any 
in  his  nation  at  that  time ;  though  his  treachery  in  turning 
over  to  the  party  that  was  against  the  queen  very  much 
blemished  his  other  qualities ;  but  he  expiated  his  fault  by  a 
real  repentance,  which  appeared  in  his  returning  to  his  duty, 
and  losing  all  afterwards  in  her  quarrel.  His  letter  will 
be  found  in  the  Collection.  The  substance  and  design  of  it  is,  Collect, 
to  clear  the  right  his  mistress  had  to  the  crown  of  England,  in 
case  the  queen  should  die  without  heirs  of  her  body.  Therein, 
after  he  had  answered  other  objections,  he  comes  to  this  of  the 
will.  To  it  he  says,  "  That,  according  to  the  act  of  parliament,  His  latter 
"  the  king's  will  was  to  be  signed  with  his  own  hand  ;  but  this  ™  a  or" 
"  will  was  only  signed  by  the  stamp.  Then  the  king  never 
j350  "  ordered  the  stamp  to  be  put  to  it :  he  had  been  oft  desired 
"■  to  sign  it,  but  had  always  put  it  off ;  but  when  they  saw  his 
"  death  approaching,  one  William  Clark,  servant  to  Thomas 
"  Hennage,  put  the  stamp  to  it,  and  some  gentlemen  that  were 
"  waiting  without  were  called  in  to  sign  it  as  witnesses.  For 
"  this  he  appealed  to  the  deposition  of  the  lord  Paget,  and 
"  desired  the  marquis  of  Winchester  and  Northampton,  the 
"  earl  of  Pembroke,  sir  William  Petre,  sir  Henry  Nevil.  sir 
"  Maurice  Berkeley,  sir  Anthony  Denny,  doctor  Butt,  and  some 
"  others  might  be  examined ;  and  that  their  depositions  might 
"  be  entered  into  the  chancery.  He  also  appealed  to  the 
"  original  will,  by  which  it  would  appear,  that  it  was  not 
"  signed,  but  only  stamped  ;  and  that  not  being  according 
"  to  the  act  of  parliament,  which  in  such  extraordinary  things 
"  must  be  strictly  taken,  the  will  was  of  no  force."  Thus  it 
appears  what  vulgar  errors  pass  upon  the  world  :  and  though, 
for  seventy-five  years,  the  Scottish  race  has  enjoyed  the  crown 
of  England,  and  after  so  long  a  possession  it  is  very  superfluous 
to  clear  a  title  which  is  universally  acknowledged  ;  yet  the 
reader  will  not  be  ill  pleased  to  see  how  ill  grounded  that 
pretence  was,  which  some  managed  very  seditiously  during  the 
reign  of  queen  Elizabeth,  for  excluding  that  line. 

But  if  this  will  was  not  signed  by  the  king,  other  grants 

Scotipe  reginae,    quo  regni    Anglia?      Rhemis,  1580,  fol.  44.   I  think  it  was 
successionem    sibi   juste    vendicat.      published  in  English  sooner.     [B.] 


550 


THK  HISTORY  OF 


[part  I. 


[Fox,  ii. 
548.] 


[Journals 
of  Lords, 
p.  290.] 


[Herbert, 
p.  632.] 


were  certainly  made  by  him  on  his  deathbed  ;  one  was  to  the 
city  of  London,  of  live  hundred  marks  a  year  for  endowing  an 
hospital,  which  was  called  Christ's  Hospital ;  and  he  ordered 
the  church  of  the  Franciscans,  a  little  within  Newgate,  to  be 
opened,  which  he  gave  to  the  hospital :  this  was  done  the  third 
of  January.  Another  was  of  Trinity  college  in  Cambridge, 
one  of  the  noblest  foundations  in  Christendom.  He  continued 
in  a  decay  till  the  twenth-seventh  of  the  month  ;  and  then, 
many  signs  of  his  approaching  end  appearing,  few  would  ad- 
venture on  so  unwelcome  a  thing  as  to  put  him  in  mind  of  his 
change,  then  imminent ;  but  sir  Anthony  Denny  had  the 
honesty  and  courage  to  do  it,  and  desired  him  to  prepare  for 
death,  and  remember  his  former  life,  and  to  call  on  God  for 
mercy  through  Jesus  Christ.  Upon  which  the  king  expressed 
his  grief  for  the  sins  of  his  past  life  ;  yet  he  said  he  trusted  in 
the  mercies  of  Christ,  which  were  greater  than  they  were. 
Then  Denny  asked  him,  if  any  churchman  should  be  sent  for : 
and  he  said,  if  any,  it  should  be  archbishop  Cranmer  ;  and 
after  he  had  rested  a  little,  finding  his  spirits  decay  apace,  he 
ordered  him  to  be  sent  for  to  Croydon,  where  he  was  then  : 
but  before  he  could  come,  the  king  was  speechless.  So 
Cranmer  desired  him  to  give  some  sign  of  his  dying  in  the 
faith  of  Christ,  upon  which  he  squeezed  his  hand,  and  soon 
after  died,  after  he  had  reigned  thirty-seven  years  and  nine 
months,  in  the  six  and  fiftieth  year  of  his  age.  His  death  was 
kept  up  three  days  ;  for  the  Journals  of  the  house  of  lords 
shew,  that  they  continued  reading  bills,  and  going  on  in 
business,  till  the  thirty-first;  and  no  sooner,  did  the  lord 
chancellor  signify  to  them  that  the  king  was  dead,  and  that  the 
parliament  was  thereby  dissolved.  It  is  certain  the  parliament 
had  no  being  after  the  king's  breath  was  out ;  so  their  sitting 
till  the  thirty-first  shews  that  the  king's  death  was  not 
generally  known  all  those  three  days.  The  reasons  of  con- 
cealing it  so  long  might  either  be,  that  they  were  considering 
what  to  do  with  the  duke  of  Norfolk ;  or  that  the  Seymours 
were  laying  their  matters,  so  as  to  be  secure  in  the  government 
before  they  published  the  king's  death.  I  shall  not  adventure  351 
on  adding  any  further  character  of  him,  to  that  which  is  done 
with  so  much  wit  and  judgment  by  the  lord  Herbert,  but  shall 
refer   the  reader  wholly  to  him ;  only  adding  an  account  of 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1547.)  551 

the  blackest  part  of  it,  the  attainders  that  passed  the  last 
thirteen  years  of  his  life  ;  which  are  comprehended  within  this 
book,  of  which  I  have  cast  over  the  relation  to  the  conclusion 
of  it. 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  there  were  many  things  that  An  ac- 
seern  great  severities,  especially  as  they  are  represented  by  the  king's 
the  writers  of  the  Roman  party,  whose  relations  are  not  a  little  severities 
strengthened  by  the  faint  excuses  and  the  mistaken  accounts  popish 
that  most  of  the  protestant  historians  have  made.  The  king  Party- 
was  naturally  impetuous,  and  could  not  bear  provocation  ;  the 
times  were  very  ticklish  ;  his  subjects  were  generally  addicted 
to  the  old  superstition,  especially  in  the  northern  parts  ;  the 
monks  and  friars  were  both  numerous  and  wealthy  ;  the  pope 
was  his  implacable  enemy  ;  the  emperor  was  a  formidable 
prince,  and,  being  then  master  of  all  the  Netherlands,  had 
many  advantages  for  the  war  he  designed  against  England. 
Cardinal  Pole,  his  kinsman,  was  going  over  all  the  courts  of 
Christendom,  to  persuade  a  league  against  England,  as  being  a 
thing  of  greater  necessity  and  merit  than  a  war  against  the 
Turk.  This  being,  without  the  least  aggravation,  the  state  of 
affairs  at  that  time,  it  must  be  confessed  he  was  sore  put  to  it. 
A  superstition  that  was  so  blind  and  headstrong,  and  enemies 
that  were  both  so  powerful,  so  spiteful,  and  so  industrious, 
made  rigour  necessary  ;  nor  is  any  general  of  an  army  more 
concerned  to  deal  severely  with  spies  and  intelligencers,  than 
he  was  to  proceed  against  all  the  pope's  adherents,  or  such  as 
kept  a  correspondence  with  Pole.  He  had  observed  in  history, 
that,  upon  much  less  provocation  than  himself  had  given,  not 
only  several  emperors  and  foreign  princes  had  been  dispossessed 
of  their  dominions  ;  but  two  of  his  own  ancestors,  Henry  the 
Second,  and  king  John,  had  been  driven  to  great  extremities, 
and  forced  to  unusual  and  most  indecent  submissions,  by  the 
means  of  the  popes  and  their  clergy. 

The  pope's  power  over  the  clergy  was  so  absolute,  and  their 
dependence  and  obedience  to  him  was  so  implicit;  and  the 
popish  clergy  had  so  great  an  interest  in  the  superstitious 
multitude,  whose  consciences  they  governed ;  that  nothing  but 
a  stronger  passion  could  either  tame  the  clergy,  or  quiet  the 
people.  If  there  had  been  the  least  hope  of  impunity,  the  last 
part   of  his   reign  would  have  been  one  continued  rebellion  : 


552 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[PABT  I. 


[Cap.  10. 
.Statutes, 
vol.  iii.  p. 
663.] 

[Cap.  7. 
Statutes, 
vol. iii.  p. 
661.] 


[Cap.  22. 
ibid.  p. 

471-] 

[Cap.  1.  ibid 
p.  492.] 


1535. 

Some  Car- 
thusians 
executed 
for  denying 
the  king's 
supremacy 
[May  4. 
Stow,  p. 
571.    Fox, 
vol.  ii. 
p.  294.] 


therefore,  to  prevent  a  more  profuse  effusion  of  blood,  it  seemed 
necessary  to  execute  laws  severely  in  some  particular  instances. 
There  is  one  calumny  that  runs  in  a  thread  through  all  the 
historians  of  the  popish  side,  which  not  a  few  of  our  own  have 
ignorautly  taken  up,  that  many  were  put  to  death  for  not 
swearing  the  king's  supremacy.  It  is  an  impudent  falsehood  ; 
for  not  so  much  as  one  person  suffered  on  that  account :  nor 
was  there  any  law  for  any  such  oath,  before  the  parliament  in 
the  twenty-eighth  year  of  the  king's  reign,  when  the  insuffer- 
able bull  of  pope  Paul  the  Third  engaged  him  to  look  a  little 
more  to  his  own  safety.  Then  indeed,  in  the  oath  for  main- 
taining the  succession  of  the  crown,  the  subjects  were  required,  352 
under  the  pains  of  treason,  to  swear  that  the  king  was  supreme 
head  of  the  church  of  England ;  but  that  was  not  mentioned  in 
the  former  oath,  that  was  made  in  the  twenty-fifth,  and  enacted 
in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  reign.  It  cannot  but  be  con- 
fessed, that,  to  enact  under  pain  of  death  that  none  should  deny 
the  king's  titles,  and  to  proceed  upon  that  against  offenders,  is 
a  very  different  tiling  from  forcing  them  to  swear  the  king  to 
be  the  supreme  head  of  the  church. 

The  first  instance  of  these  capital  proceedings  was  in 
Easter-term,  in  the  beginning  of  the  twenty-seventh  year  of  his 
reign.  Three  priors  and  a  monk  of  the  Carthusian  order  were 
then  indicted  of  treason,  for  saying,  That  the  king  was  not 
supreme  head  under  Christ  of  the  church  of  England.  These 
were,  John  Houghton,  prior  of  the  Charterhouse  near  London  ; 
Augustine  Webster,  prior  of  Axhohn 8 ;  Robert  Laurence,  prior 
of  Beauvale ;  and  Richard  Reynolds,  a  monk  of  Sion  :  this 
last  was  esteemed  a  learned  man  for  that  time  and  that  order. 
They  were  tried  in  Westminster-hall  by  a  commission  of  oyer 
and  terminer :   they  pleaded  Not  guilty ;   but  the  jury  found 


8  [Stow  says,  '  The  29th  of  April 
John,  prior  of  the  Charterhouse  at 
London,  Augustine  Webster,  prior 
of  Bevall,  Thomas  Laurence,  prior 
of  Exham,  Ric.  Reginalds,  doctor, 
a  monke  of  Sion,  and  John  Haile, 
vicar  of  Thistleworth,  were  all 
condemned  of  treason,  who  were 
drawne,  hanged,  and  quartered  at 
Tiborne,  the  fourth  of  May,  their 
heads  and  quarters  set  on  the  gates 


of  the  citie,  all  save  one  quarter, 
which  was  set  on  the  Charterhouse 
at  London.'  The  account  in  the 
text  was  perhaps  taken  from  Fox. 
Augustine  Webster  was  certainly 
prior  of  Beauvale,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Robert  Laurence.  The 
author  appears  to  have  confused 
this  name  with  that  of  Thomas 
Laurence,  prior  of  Axholm.] 


book  in.]  THE    REFORMATION.     (1535.)  553 

them  guilty,  and  judgment  was  given  that  they  should  suffer  as 
traitors.  The  record  mentions  no  other  particulars ;  but  the  [Sanders, 
writers  of  the  popish  side  make  a  splendid  recital  of  the  courage 
and  constancy  they  expressed  both  in  their  trial  and  at  their 
death.  It  was  no  difficult  thing  for  men  so  used  to  the  legend, 
and  the  making  of  fine  stories  for  saints  and  martyrs  of  their 
orders,  to  dress  up  their  narratives  with  much  pomp.  But  as 
their  pleading  Not  guilty  to  the  indictment  shews  no  extra- 
ordinary resolution  ;  so  the  account  that  is  given  by  them  of 

one  Hall,  a  secular  priest,  that  died  with  them,  is  so  false,  that  [Ibid.  p. 

.  88 1 

there  is  good  reason  to  suspect  all.    He  is  said  to  have  suffered 

on  the  same  account ;  but  the  record  of  his  attainder  gives  a 
very  different  relation  of  it. 

He  and  Robert  Feron  were  indicted  at  the  same  time,  for  And  Hall, 
having  said  many  spiteful  and  treasonable  things  ;  as,  "  That  consph-i'n^ 
"  the  king  was  a  tyrant,  an  heretic,  a  robber,  and  an  adulterer  ;  against  the 
"  that  they  hoped  he  should  die  such  a  death  as  king  John 
"  and  Richard  the  Third  died  ;  that  they  looked  when  those  in 
"  Ireland  and  Wales  should  invade  England  ;  and  they  were 
"  assured  that  three  parts  of  four  in  England  would  be  against 
"  the  king ;  they  also  said,  that  they  should  never  live  merrily 
"  till  the  king  and  the  rulers  were  plucked  by  the  pates,  and 
"  brought  to  the  pot ;  and  that  it  would  never  be  well  with 
"  the  church  till  that  was  done."  Hall  had  not  only  said  this, 
but  had  also  written  it  to  Feron  the  tenth  of  March  that  year. 
When  they  were  brought  to  the  bar,  they  at  first  pleaded  Not 
guilty;  but  full  proof  being  brought,  they  themselves  con- 
fessed the  indictment  before  the  jury  went  aside,  and  put  them- 
selves on  the  king's  mercy  :  upon  which,  this  being  an  imagin- 
ing and  contriving  both  war  against  the  king,  and  the  king's 
death,  judgment  was  given  as  in  cases  of  treason  :  but  no 
mention  being  made  of  Fcron's  death,  it  seems  he  had  his 
pardon.  Hall  suffered  with  the  four  Carthusians,  who  were 
hanged  in  their  habits. 

They  proceeded  no  further  in  Easter-term  :  but  in  Trinity-  Three  other 
term  there  was  another  commission  of  oyer  and  terminer,  by  ™^[s  Gxe" 
which  Humphrey  Middlcmore,  William  Exmcw,  and  Sebastian  [June  19, 
353  Newdigatc,  three   monks  of  the   Charterhouse  near  London,  8lt  -j  1>- 
were  indicted  of  treason,  for  having  said,  on  the  twenty -fifth 
of  May,   "  that  they  neither   could  nor  would   consent  to  be 


554  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

"  obedient  to  the  king's  highness,  as  true,  lawful,  and  obedient 
"  subjects  ;  to  take  him  to  be  supreme  head  on  earth  of  the 
"  church  of  England."  They  all  pleaded  Not  guilty ;  but 
were  found  guilty  by  the  jury,  and  judgment  was  given. 
When  they  were  condemned,  they  desired  that  they  might 
receive  the  body  of  Christ  before  their  death.  But  (as  judge 
Spclman  writ)  the  court  would  not  grant  it,  since  that  was 
never  done  in  such  cases  but  by  order  from  the  king.  Two 
days  after  that,  they  wrere  executed.  Two  other  monks  of 
[May  ii.]  that  same  order,  John  Rochester  and  James  Wolver,  suffered 
on  the  same  account  at  York  in  May  this  year.  Ten  other 
Carthusian  monks  were  shut  up  within  their  cells,  where  nine 
of  them  died ;  the  tenth  was  hanged  in  the  beginning  of 
[Aug.  4.]  August.  Concerning  those  persons,  I  find  this  said  in  some 
original  letters,  that  they  had  brought  over  into  England,  and 
vented  in  it,  some  books  that  were  written  beyond  sea  against 
the  king's  marriage,  and  his  other  proceedings ;  which  being 
found  in  their  house,  they  were  pressed  to  peruse  the  books 
that  were  wrritten  for  the  king,  but  obstinately  refused  to  do  it; 
they  had  also  been  involved  in  the  business  of  the  Maid  of 
Kent,  for  which,  though  all  the  complices  in  it,  except  those 
who  suffered  for  it,  were  pardoned  by  act  of  parliament, 
yet  such  as  had  been  concerned  in  it  were  still  under  jealousy  : 
and  it  is  no  wonder  that,  upon  new  provocations,  they  met  with 
the  uttermost  rigour  of  the  law. 
Fisher's  These    trials    made   way    for    two    others   that  were   more 

death**       signal ;  of  the  bishop  of  Rochester  and  sir  Thomas  More.     The 
[Herbert,    first  of  these  had  been  a  prisoner  above  a  year,  and  was  very 
p-  42°-J       severely  used  :  he  complained,  in  his  letters  to  Cromwell,  that 
he  had  neither  clothes  nor  fire  ;  being  then  about  fourscore. 
This  was  understood  at  Rome  ;   and  upon  it,  pope  Clement,  by 
an  officious  kindness  to  him,  or  rather  in  spite  to  king  Henry, 
[Sanders,     declared  him  a  cardinal,  and  sent  him  a  red  hat.     When  the 
P- 93]         king  knew  this,  he  sent  to  examine  him  about  it :    but  he  pro- 
tested he  had  used  no  endeavours  to  procure  it,  and  valued  it 
so  little,  that  if  the  hat  were  lying  at  his  feet,  he  would  not 
take  it  up.     It  never  came  nearer  him  than  Picardy  ;  yet  this 
did  precipitate  his  ruin.     But  if  he  had  kept  his  opinion  of  the 
king's  supremacy  to  himself,  they  could  not  have  proceeded 
further.     He  would  not  do  that,  but  did  upon  several  occasions 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  555 

speak  against  it ;  so  he  was  brought  to  his  trial  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  June.  The  lord  chancellor,  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  and 
some  other  lords,  together  with  the  judges,  sat  upon  him  by  a 
commission  of  oyer  and  terminer.  He  pleaded  Not  guilty  ; 
but,  being  found  guilty,  judgment  was  passed  on  him  to  die  as 
a  traitor  ;  but  he  was,  by  a  warrant  from  the  king,  beheaded. 
Upon  the  twenty-second  of  June,  being  the  day  of  his  execution, 
he  dressed  himself  with  more  than  ordinary  care  ;  and  when 
his  man  took  notice  of  it,  he  told  him  he  was  to  be  that  day  a 
bridegroom.  As  he  was  led  to  the  place  of  execution,  being 
stopped  in  the  way  by  the  crowd,  he  opened  his  New  Testa- 
ment, and  prayed  to  this  purpose ;  that  as  that  book  had  been 
his  companion  and  chief  comfort  in  his  imprisonment,  so  then 
354  some  place  might  turn  up  to  him,  that  might  comfort  him 
in  his  last  passage.  This  being  said,  he  opened  the  book  at 
a  venture,  in  which  these  words  of  St.  John's  Gospel  turned 
up  ;  This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent.  So  he  shut  the  book  with 
much  satisfaction,  and  all  the  way  was  repeating  and  meditating 
on  them.  When  he  came  to  the  scaffold,  he  pronounced  the 
Te  Deum ;  and,  after  some  other  devotions,  his  head  was  [Sanders, 
cutoff.  P'91-] 

Thus  died  John  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  in  the  eightieth  His  cha- 
year  of  his  age.     He  was  a  learned  and  devout  man,  but  much  r 
addicted  to  the  superstitions  in  which  he  had  been  bred  up : 
and  that  led  him  to  great  severities  against  all  that  opposed 
them.     He  had  been  for  many  years  confessor  to  the  king's  [Ibid, 
grandmother,  the  countess  of  Richmond ;  and  it  was  believed  r'  9 
that  he  persuaded  her  to  those  noble  designs  for  the  advance- 
ment  of  learning,    of  founding  two  colleges  in    Cambridge, 
St.  John's  and  Christ's  college,  and  divinity  professors  in  both 
universities.     And,  in  acknowledgment  of  this,  he  was  chosen 
chancellor  of  the  university  of  Cambridge.    Henry  the  Seventh 
gave  him  the  bishopric  of  Rochester ;  which  he,  following  the  [Oct.  14. 
rule  of  the  primitive  church,  would  never  change  for  a  better  :  ^04'J 
he  used  to  say,  his  church  was  his  wife,  and  he  would  never 
part  with  her  because  she  was  poor.     He  continued  in  great 
favour  with  the  king  till  the  business  of  the  divorce  was  set  on 
foot ;    and  then  he  adhered  so  firmly  to  the  queen's  cause,  and 
the  pope's  supremacy,  that  he  was  carried  by  that  headlong 


556  THE    HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

into  groat  errors,  as  appears  by  the  business  of  the  Maid 
of  Kent.  Many  thought  the  king  ought  to  have  proceeded 
against  him  rather  upon  that,  which  was  a  point  of  state,  than 
upon  the  supremacy,  which  was  matter  of  conscience.  But  the 
king  was  resolved  to  let  all  his  subjects  see  there  was  no 
mercy  to  be  expected  by  any  that  denied  his  being  supreme 
head  of  the  church  ;  and  therefore  made  him  and  More  two 
examples  for  terrifying  the  rest.  This  being  much  censured 
beyond  sea,  Gardiner,  that  was  never  wanting  in  the  most 
servile  compliances,  wrote  a  vindication  of  the  king's  proceed- 
[Herbert,  ings.  The  lord  Herbert  had  it  in  his  hands,  and  tells  us,  it  was 
P-42I-J  written  in  elegant  Latin,  but  that  he  thought  it  too  long,  and 
others  judged  it  was  too  vehement,  to  be  inserted  in  his  History. 
More's trial  On  the  first  of  July,  sir  Thomas  More  was  brought  to 
[Herbert,  his  trial.  The  special  matter  in  his  indictment  is,  that,  on  the 
p.  422.]  seventh  of  May  preceding,  before  Cromwell,  Bedyll,  and  some 
others,  that  were  pressing  him  concerning  the  king's  supre- 
macy, he  said  lie  would  not  meddle  with  any  such  matter;  and 
was  fully  resolvpd  to  serve  God,  and  think  upon  his  passion, 
and  his  own  passage  out  of  this  world.  Ho  had  also  sent 
divers  messages  by  one  George  Gold  to  Fisher,  to  encourage 
him  in  his  obstinacy :  and  said,  "  the  act  of  parliament  is  like 
"  a  sword  with  two  edges ;  for  if  a  man  answer  one  way, 
"  it  will  confound  his  soul ;  and  if  he  answer  another  way, 
"  it  will  confound  his  body."  He  had  said  the  same  thing  on 
the  third  of  June,  in  the  hearing  of  the  lord  chancellor,  the 
duke  of  Norfolk,  and  others ;  and  that  he  would  not  be  the 
occasion  of  the  shortening  his  own  life.  And  when  Rich,  the 
king's  solicitor,  came  to  deal  with  him  further  about  it,  but 
protested  that  he  came  not  with  any  authority  to  examine  him  ; 
they  discoursed  the  matter  fully  :  Rich  pressed  him,  "  that,  355 
"  since  the  parliament  had  enacted  that  the  king  was  supreme 
"  head,  the  subjects  ought  to  agree  to  it ;  and,  said  Rich, 
"  what  if  the  parliament  should  declare  me  king,  would  you 
"  not  acknowledge  me  ?  I  would,  said  More,  quia  (as  it  is  in  the 
"  indictment)  rex  per  parliamentum  fieri  potest,  et  per  par- 
"  liamentum  deprivari :  but  More  turned  the  argument  on 
"  Rich,  and  said,  what  if  the  parliament  made  an  act  that  God 
"  was  not  God  I  Rich  acknowledged  it  could  not  bind  :  but 
"  replied   to    More,   that,  since  he    would  acknowledge  him 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.  (1535.)  557 

"  king,  if  he  were  made  so  by  act  of  parliament,  why  would 
"  he  not  acknowledge  the  king  supreme  head,  since  it  was 
"  enacted  by  parliament  ?"  To  that  More  answered,  "that  the 
"  parliament  had  power  to  make  a  king,  and  the  people  were 
"  bound  to  acknowledge  him  whom  they  made  ;  but  for  the 
"  supremacy,  though  the  parliament  had  enacted  it,  yet  those 
"  in  foreign  parts  had  never  assented  to  it."  This  was  carried 
by  Rich  to  the  king  ;  and  all  these  particulars  were  laid 
together,  and  judged  to  amount  to  a  denial  of  the  supremacy. 
Judge  Spelman  writ,  that  More,  being  on  his  trial,  pleaded 
strongly  against  the  statute  that  made  it  treason  to  deny 
the  supremacy ;  and  argued,  that  the  king  could  not  be  supreme 
head  of  the  church  :  when  he  was  brought  to  the  bar,  he 
pleaded  Not  guilty ;  but,  being  found  guilty,  judgment  was 
given  against  him  as  a  traitor.  He  received  it  with  that  equal 
temper  of  mind,  which  he  had  shewed  in  both  conditions  of 
life,  and  then  set  himself  wholly  to  prepare  for  death  :  he 
expressed  great  contempt  of  the  world,  and  that  he  was 
weary  of  life,  and  longed  for  death  ;  which  was  so  little  terrible 
to  him,  that  his  ordinary  facetiousness  remained  with  him  even 
on  the  scaffold.  It  was  censured  by  many,  as  light  and  in- 
decent;  but  others  said,  that  way  having  been  so  natural  to 
him  on  all  other  occasions,  it  was  not  at  all  affected  ;  but 
shewed  that  death  did  no  way  discompose  him,  and  could  not 
so  much  as  put  him  out  of  his  ordinary  humour  :  yet  his 
rallying  every  thing  on  the  scaffold  was  thought  to  have  more 
of  the  stoic  than  the  Christian  in  it.  After  some  time  spent  in  [Hall,  p. 
secret  devotions,  he  was  beheaded  on  the  sixth  of  July.  I7'-' 

Thus  did  sir  Thomas  More  end  his  days,  in  the  fifty-third  His  charac- 
year  of  his  age9.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  virtues  and  excellent ter" 
parts  :  in  his  youth  he  had  freer  thoughts  of  things,  as  appears 
by  his  Utopia,  and  his  Letters  to  Erasmus  ;  but  afterwards  he 
became  superstitiously  devoted  to  the  interests  and  passions  of 
the  popish  clergy :  and,  as  he  served  them  when  he  was 
in  authority,  even  to  assist  them  in  all  their  cruelties ;  so  he 
employed  his  pen  in  the  same  cause,  both  in  writing  against  all 
the  new  opinions  in  general,  and  in  particular  against  Tyndale, 

9  The  year  of  sir  Thomas  More's     not    higher.     Others    say    it    was 
birth  is  not  certain.     By  Erasmus'      1480,  and  others  1484.    [F.] 
reckoning  i(  was  in  the  year  1479  if 


558  THE   HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

Frith,  and  Barnes ;  as  also  an  unknown  writer,  who  seemed  of 
neither  party,  but  reproved  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy,  and 
condemned  their  cruel  proceedings.  More  was  no  divine  at 
all ;  and  it  is  plain  to  any,  that  reads  his  writings,  that  he 
knew  nothing  of  antiquity,  beyond  the  quotations  he  found  in 
the  canon  law,  and  in  the  Master  of  the  Sentences  ;  (only  he 
had  read  some  of  St.  Austin's  treatises  ;)  for  upon  all  points  of 
controversy  he  quotes  only  what  he  found  in  these  collections : 
nor  was  he  at  all  conversant  in  the  critical  learning  upon 
the  scriptures ;  but  his  peculiar  excellency  in  writing  was,  that 
he  had  a  natural  easy  expression,  and  presented  all  the  opinions  356 
of  popery  with  their  fair  side  to  the  reader,  disguising  or  con- 
cealing the  black  side  of  them  with  great  art ;  and  was  no  less 
dextrous  in  exposing  all  the  ill  consequences  that  could  follow  on 
the  doctrine  of  the  reformers ;  and  had  upon  all  occasions  great 
store  of  pleasant  tales,  which  he  applied  wittily  to  his  purpose. 
And  in  this  consists  the  great  strength  of  his  writings,  which 
were  designed  rather  for  the  rabble,  than  for  learned  men.  But 
for  justice,  contempt  of  money,  humility,  and  a  true  generosity 
of  mind,  he  was  an  example  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

But  there  is  one  thing  unjustly  added  to  the  praise  of  these 
two  great  men,  or  rather  feigned,  on  design  to  lessen  the  king's 
honour  ;    that  Fisher  and  he  penned  the  book  which  the  king 

[Sanders,     wrote  against    Luther Ul.     This    Sanders   first   published   and 
p-  93-1 

10  It  is  true   sir  Thomas  More  to  your  lordship,  whether  you  think 

was  only  a  sorter,  and  Fisher  could  the  style  to  he  the  same.     The  last 

be  no  more  than  one  of  the  makers,  words  are  so  elegant  that  I  cannot 

though  some  have  asserted  it  to  be  forbear  reciting  them  :  "  Cum  qua 

his  work  alone.  nee  Pontifex  Romanus,  nee  quivis 

But  as  to  sir  Thomas  More's  tes-  alius  Praelatus  aut  pontifex  habet 
timony,  I  think  it  may  with  much  quicquid  agere  praeterquam  in  suas 
more  reason  be  taken  from  Roper,  dioceses."  [Quicquid  which  ap- 
his son-in-law,  who  married  his  pears  in  the  folio  editions  is  a  mis- 
beloved  daughter,  and  knew  his  take;  the  MS.  has  quicquam  as  it  is 
inward  thoughts  ;  than  from  a  letter  printed  in  this  edition.  See  the  first 
to  a  minister  of  state,  where  loquen-  volume  of  the  Collection  of  Records, 
durn  cum  vulgo.  Your  lordship  is  a  Addenda,  xii.  p.  368.] 
very  able  judge  of  style,  and  of  the  However,  I  am  very  willing  the 
elegancy  wherewith  this  book  is  king  should  enjoy  the  honours  of 
wrote.  Your  lordship  has  given  us  his  book,  provided  I  am  allowed  to 
a  specimen  of  the  king's  style  in  the  enjoy  my  opinion, 
marginal  notes  of  the  last  page  of  Upon  this  occasion  I  have  only  to 
this  volume,  p.  368.     I  dare  appeal  add,  that  whereas   this    life   of  sir 


hook  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1535.)  559 

Bellarmine  and  others  since  have  taken  it  up  upon  his  authority  n. 
Strangers  may  be  pardoned  such  errors,  but  they  are  in- 
excusable in  an  Englishman :  for  in  More's  printed  works  [More'* 
there  is  a  letter  written  by  him  out  of  the  Tower  to  Cromwell,  ™™^  p 
in  which  he  gives  an  account  of  his  behaviour  concerning  the 
king's  divorce  and  supremacy ;  among  other  particulars,  one  is 
"  That,  when  the  king  shewed  him  his  book  against  Luther,  in 
"  which  he  had  asserted  the  pope's  primacy  to  be  of  divine 
"  right,  More  desired  him  to  leave  it  out;  since,  as  there  had 
"  been  many  contests  between  popes  and  other  princes,  so 
"  there  might  fall  in  some  between  the  pope  and  the  king  : 
"  therefore  he  thought  it  was  not  fit  for  the  king  to  publish 
"  any  thing,  which  might  be  afterwards  made  use  of  against 
"  himself;  and  advised  him,  either  to  leave  out  that  point, 
"  or  to  touch  it  very  tenderly."  But  the  king  would  not  [Ibid.  p. 
follow  his  counsel,  being  perhaps  so  fond  of  what  he  had  writ,  4" 
that  he  would  rather  run  himself  upon  a  great  inconvenience, 
than  leave  out  any  thing  that  he  fancied  so  well  written.  This 
shews  that  More  knew  that  book  was  written  by  the  king's 
own  pen  ;  and  either  Sanders  never  read  this,  or  maliciously 
concealed  it,  lest  it  should  discover  his  foul  dealing. 

These  executions  so  terrified  all  people,  that  there  were  no 
further  provocations  given  ;  and  all  persons  either  took  the 
oaths,  or  did  so  dextrously  conceal  their  opinions,  that,  till  the 
rebellions  of  Lincolnshire  and  the  north  broke  out,  none 
suffered  after  this  upon  a  public  account.  But  when  these 
were  quieted,  then  the  king  resolved  to  make  the  chief  authors 
and  leaders  of  those  commotions  public  examples  to  the  rest. 

Thomas  More  by  Roper  is  some-  mentis   contra   Lutherum    edendi ; 

where  cited,  p.  279,  as  printed,  (if  I  quern  cpuoque   postea   oppugnatum 

am  not  mistaken,)  I  think  I  maybe  eruditissime  defendit,"  p.  93.     The 

positive    it  was   never  printed.     I  author  has  carelessly  copied  Herbert, 

have  it  in  manuscript.    Sir  Thomas  who  says,  "  All  which  cannot  make 

More's   life   was   twice   printed   in  me  believe  yet  that  he  was  author 

4to  and   in   8vo.,  and  by  different  of    king     Henry's     book     against 

hands,  but  neither  of  them  by  Roper,  Luther,  (as  Sanders  and  Bellarmine 

though  both  of  them  had  borrowed  will  have  it,)  or  sir  Thomas  More, 

from  him  pretty  freely.    [B.]  (as  others  say,)  though  I  doubt  not 

1 '   [Sanders,  speaking  of  Fisher,  but  they  might  both  revise  it  by  the 

says  :  "  Idem  fuisse  dicitur  et  author  king's   favour,    and   where  it    was 

et    adjutor    Henrico   librum   ilium  needful  also   interpose   their  judg- 

nominatissimum    de   septem  sacra-  ment,"  p.  420.] 


-500 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


|  FART   I. 


Attainders 
after  the 
rebellion 
was  quiet- 
ed. 

[Herbert, 
p.  490.] 


1537. 


Hall.  [p. 
8*5-] 

Censures 
passed  up- 
on it. 


The  duke  of  Norfolk  proceeded  against  many  of  them  by 
martial  law  ;  there  were  also  trials  at  common  law  of  a  great 
many  more  that  were  taken  prisoners,  and  sent  up  to  London. 
The  lords  Darcy  and  Hussey  were  tried  by  their  peers,  the 
marquis  of  Exeter  sitting  steward.  And  a  commission  of  oyer 
and  terminer  being  issued  out  for  the  trial  of  the  rest,  sir 
Robert  Constable,  sir  John  Buhner  and  his  lady,  sir  Francis 
Pigot,  sir  Stephen  Hamilton,  and  sir  Thomas  Percy,  and  Aske 
that  had  been  their  captain  ;  with  the  abbots  of  Whalley, 
Jervaulx,  Bridlington,  Lenton,  Woburn,  and  Kingstead,  and 
Mackrell  the  monk,  that  first  raised  the  Lincolnshire  rebellion, 
with  sixteen  more,  were  indicted  of  high  treason  for  the  late 
rebellions.  And,  after  all  the  steps  of  the  rebellion  were 
reckoned  up,  it  is  added  in  the  indictment,  that  they  had  met  3o7 
together  on  the  seventeenth  of  January,  and  consulted  how  to 
renew  it,  and  prosecute  it  further,  being  encouraged  by  the 
new  risings  that  were  then  in  the  north,  by  which  they  had 
forfeited  all  the  favour  to  which  they  could  have  pretended,  by 
virtue  of  the  indemnity  that  was  granted  in  the  end  of  Decem- 
ber, and  of  the  pardons  which  they  had  taken  out.  They  were 
all  found  guilty,  and  had  judgment  as  in  cases  of  treason  : 
divers  of  them  were  carried  down  into  Lincolnshire  and  York- 
shire, and  executed  in  the  places  where  their  treasons  were 
committed ;  but  most  of  them  suffered  at  London,  and,  among 
others,  the  lady  Buhner  (whom  others  call  sir  John  Buhner's 
harlot)  was  burnt  for  it  in  Smithfield. 

The  only  censure  that  passed  on  this  was,  that  advantages 
were  taken  on  too  slight  grounds  to  break  the  king's  indemnity 
and  pardon  ;  since  it  does  not  appear,  that,  after  their  pardon, 
they  did  any  thing  more  than  meet  and  consult.  But  the 
kino-dom  was  so  shaken  with  that  rebellion,  that,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  great  conduct  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  the  kino- 
had  by  all  appearance  lost  his  crown.  And  it  will  not  seem 
strange,  that  a  king  (especially  so  tempered  as  this  was)  had  a 
mind  to  strike  terror  into  the  rest  of  his  subjects,  by  some 
signal  examples,  and  to  put  out  of  the  way  the  chief  leaders  of 
that  design :  nor  was  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  abbots  and 
other  clergymen,  who  had  been  so  active  in  that  commotion, 
were  severely  handled.  It  was  by  their  means  that  the  dis- 
contents were  chiefly  fomented  ;  they  had  taken  all  the  oaths 


book  in.]  THE   REFORMATION.     (1538.)  501 

that  were  enjoined  them,  and  yet  continued  to  be  still  practis- 
ing against  the  state  ;  which,  as  it  was  highly  contrary  to  the 
peaceable  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion,  so  it  was  in  a 
special  manner  contrary  to  the  rules  which  they  professed,  that 
obliged  them  to  forsake  the  world,  and  to  follow  a  religious  and 
spiritual  course  of  life.  tMay  23l 

The  next  example  of  justice  was,  a  year  after  this,  of  one      1538. 
Forrest,  an  Observant  friar;   he  had  been,  as  Sanders  said,  e °^0Ca- 
confessor  to  queen  Catharine,  but  it  seems  departed  from  her  tion  and 
interests  ;    for  he  insinuated  himself  so  into   the  king,  that  ganders, 
he  recovered  his  good  opinion.     Being  an  ignorant  and  lewdp-I07-l 
man,  he  was  accounted  by  the  better  sort  of  that  house,  to 
which  he  belonged  in  Greenwich,  a  reproach  to  their  order ; 

(concernino-  this.  I  have  seen  a  large  account  in  an  original  [Cotton 

b  '  .  MSS 

letter  written  by  a  brother  of  the  same  house.)     Having  re-  cieop. 

gained  the  king's  good  opinion,  he  put  all  those   who  hadEivI°] 

favoured  the   divorce   under   great  fears,   for    he   proceeded 

cruelly  against  them.     And  one  Rainscroft,  being  suspected 

to  have  given  secret  intelligence  of  what  was  done  among  them, 

was  shut  up,  and  so  hardly  used,  that  he  died  in  their  hands  ; 

which   was    (as    that  letter  relates)   done    by   friar    Forrest's 

means.      This   friar    was   found   to   have   denied    the   king's 

supremacy  ;  for  though  he  himself  had  sworn  it,  yet  he  had 

infused  it  into  many  in    confession,  that   the   king    was   not 

the  supreme  head  of  the  church.     Being  questioned  for  these 

practices,  which  were  so  contrary  to  the  oath  that  he  had 

taken,  he  answered,  "  that  he  took  that  oath  with  his  outward  Hall.  [p. 

"  man,  but  his  inward  man  had  never  consented  to  it."     Being    25"-l 

brought  to  his  trial,  and  accused  of  several  heretical  opinions 

358  that  he  held,  he  submitted  himself  to  the  church.     Upon  this 

he  had  more  freedom  allowed  him  in  the  prison ;    but  some 

coming   to  him,   diverted    him  from   the    submission    he    had 

offered ;   so  that,  when  the  paper  of  abjuration  was  brought 

him,  he  refused  to  set  his  hand  to  it :  upon  which  he  was  judged 

an  obstinate  heretic.     The  records  of  these  proceedings  are 

lost ;    but  the  books  of  that  time  say,  that   he    denied   the 

gospel :  it  is  like  it  was  upon  that  pretence,  that,  without  the 

determination  of  the  church,  it  had  no  authority  ;    upon  which 

several  writers  of  the  Roman  communion  have  said  indecent 

and  scandalous  things  of  the  holy  scriptures.     He  was  brought 

BURNET,  PART  I.  0  0 


5&2  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

|Stuw,  p.     to  Smithfield,  where  were  present  the  lords  of  the  council 

575'J  to  offer  him  his  pardon,  if  he  would  abjure.     Latimer  made 

a  sermon  against  his  errors,  and  studied  to  persuade  him  to 

recant :  but  he  continued  in  his  former  opinions ;  so  he  was 

put  to  death  in  a  most  severe  manner.     He  was  hanged  in 

a  chain  about  his  middle,  and  the  great  image  that  was  brought 

out  of  Wales  was  broken  to  pieces,  and  served  for  fuel  to  burn 

him.     He  shewed  great  unquietness  of  mind,  and  ended  his 

[Hall,  p.     life  in  an  ungodly  manner,  as  Hall  says ;  who  adds  this  charac- 

'■'  ter  of  him,  "  that  he  had  little  knowledge  of  God  and  his 

"  sincere  truth,  and  less  trust  in  him  at  his  ending." 

In  winter  that  year,  a  correspondence  was  discovered  with 

cardinal  Pole,  who  was  barefaced  in  his  treasonable  designs 

against  the  king.    His  brother  sir  Geofrey  Pole  discovered  the 

The  pro-     whole  plot :  for  which  the  marquis  of  Exeter,  (that  was  the 

ceedmgs     kmg's  cousin-gcrman  bv  his  mother,  who  was  Edward  the 

against  car-  °  °  " 

dinalPole's  Fourth's  daughter,)  the  lord  Montacute,  the  cardinal's  brother, 
nends.       gjr  Qeofrev  p0iGj  an(J  s\r  Edward  Neville,  were  sent  to  the 
[Nov.  3.      Tower  in  the  beginning  of  November.     They  were  accused  for 
Hall,  p.      having  maintained  a  correspondence  with  the  cardinal,  and  for 
expressing  an  hatred  of  the  king,  with  a  dislike  of  his  proceed- 
ings, and  a  readiness  to  rise  upon  any  good  opportunity  that 
might  offer  itself. 

The  special  matter  brought  against  the  lord  Montacute  and 
the  marquis  of  Exeter,  who  were  tried  by  their  peers  on  the 
second  and  third  of  December,  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  this 
reign  is,  "  That  whereas  cardinal  Pole,  and  others,  had  cast  off 
"  their  allegiance  to  the  king,  and  gone  and  submitted  them- 
"  selves  to  the  pope,  the  king's  mortal  enemy ;  the  lord  Mon- 
"  tacute  did,  on  the  twenty -fourth  of  July,  in  the  twenty-eighth 
"  year  of  the  king's  reign,  a  few  months  before  the  rebellion 
"  broke  out,  say  that  he  liked  well  the  proceedings  of  his 
"  brother  the  cardinal,  but  did  not  like  the  proceedings  of  the 
"  realm ;  and  said,  I  trust  to  see  a  change  of  this  world  ;  I 
"  trust  to  have  a  fair  day  upon  those  knaves  that  rule  about 
"  the  king ;  and  I  trust  to  see  a  merry  world  one  day." 
Words  to  the  same  purpose  were  also  charged  on  the  marquis : 
the  lord  Montacute  further  said,  "  I  would  I  were  over  the  sea 
"  with  my  brother,  for  this  world  will  one  day  come  to  stripes ; 
"  it  must  needs  so  come  to  pass,  and  I  fear  we  shall  lack 


book  in.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1538.)  563 

"  nothing  so  much  as  honest  men.  He  also  said,  he  had 
"  dreamed  that  the  king  was  dead ;  and,  though  he  was  not 
"  yet  dead,  he  would  die  suddenly ;  one  day  his  leg  will  kill 
"  him,  and  then  we  shall  have  jolly  stirring  ;  saying  also,  that 
"  he  had  never  loved  him  from  his  childhood,  and  that  car- 
"  dinal  Wolsey  would  have  been  an  honest  man,  if  he  had  had 
359  "  an  honest  master.  And  the  king  having  said  to  the  lords, 
"  he  would  leave  them  one  day,  having  some  apprehensions  he 
"  might  shortly  die  ;  that  lord  said,  if  he  will  serve  us  so, 
"  we  shall  be  happily  rid ;  a  time  will  come,  I  fear  we  shall 
"  not  tarry  the  time,  we  shall  do  well  enough.  He  had  also 
"  said,  he  was  sorry  the  lord  Abergavenny  was  dead,  for  he 
"  could  have  made  ten  thousand  men  :  and,  for  his  part,  he 
"  would'  go  and  live  in  the  west,  where  the  marquis  of  Exeter 
"  was  strong :  and  had  also  said,  upon  the  breaking  of  the 
"  northern  rebellion,  that  the  lord  Darcy  played  the  fool,  for 
"  he  went  to  pluck  away  the  council,  but  he  should  have  begun 
"  with  the  head  first ;  but  I  beshrew  him  for  leaving  off  so 
"  soon."  These  were  the  words  charged  on  those  lords,  as 
clear  discoveries  of  their  treasonable  designs ;  and  that  they 
knew  of  the  rebellion  that  brake  out,  and  only  intended  to 
have  kept  it  off  to  a  fitter  opportunity :  they  were  also  ac- 
cused of  correspondence  with  cardinal  Pole,  that  was  the  king's 
declared  enemy.  Upon  these  points  the  lords  pleaded  Not 
guilty,  but  were  found  guilty  by  their  peers,  and  so  judgment 
was  given. 

On  the  fourth  of  December  were  indicted,  sir  Geofrey  Pole, 
for  holding  correspondence  with  his  brother  the  cardinal,  and 
saying,  that  he  approved  of  his  proceedings,  but  not  of  the 
king's ;  sir  Edward  Neville,  brother  to  the  lord  Abergavenny, 
for  saying,  the  king  was  a  beast,  and  worse  than  a  beast; 
George  Crofts,  chancellor  of  the  cathedral  of  Chichester,  for 
saying,  the  king  ivas  not,  but  the  pope  was,  supreme  head  of 
the  church;  and  John  Collins  for  saying,  the  king  would  hang 
in  hell  one  day  for  the  plucking  doivn  of  abbeys :  all  those, 
sir  Edward  Neville  only  excepted,  pleaded  Guilty,  and  so  they 
were  condemned  ;  but  sir  Geofrey  Pole  was  the  only  person  of 
the  number  that  was  not  executed,  for  he  had  discovered  the 
matter.  At  the  same  time  also,  cardinal  Pole ;  Michael 
Throgmorton,  gentleman ;    John  Hilliard  and  Thomas  Gold- 

003 


504  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

well,  elerks;   and  William   Peto1-,   a  Franciscan  of  the  Ob- 
servance ;    were  attainted  in  absence,  because  they  had  cast  off 
their  duty  to  the  king,  and  had  subjected  themselves  to  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  Pole  being  made  cardinal  by  him ;  and  for 
writing  treasonable  letters,  and  sending  them  into  England. 
On  the  fourth  of  February  following,  sir  Nicholas  Carew,  that 
was  both  master  of  the  horse,  and  knight  of  the  garter,  was 
arraigned  for  being  an  adherent  to  the  marquis  of  Exeter  ; 
and,  having  spoke  of  his  attainder  as  unjust  and  cruel,  he  was 
also  attainted  and  executed  upon  the  third  of  March.     When 
he  was  brought  to  the  scaffold,  he  openly  acknowledged  the 
errors  and  superstitions  in  which  he  had  formerly  lived,  and 
[Hall,  p.     blessed   God  for  his  imprisonment ;    "  for  he  then  began  to 
"  relish  the  life  and  sweetness  of  God's  holy  word,  which  was 
"  brought  him  by  his  keeper,  one  Phillips,  who  followed  the 
"  reformation,  and  had  formerly  suffered  for  it." 
1 530.         After  these  executions,  followed  the  parliament  in  the  year 
Some  at-     1539  ;  in  which,  not  only  these  attainders,  that  were  already 
without      passed,  were  confirmed,  but  new  ones  of  a  strange  and  unheard- 
hearing  the  0f  nature  were  enacted.     It  is  a  blemish  never  to  be  washed 

parties. 

off,  and  which  cannot  be  enough  condemned,  and  was  a  breach 
of  the  most  sacred  and  unalterable  rules  of  justice,  which  is 
capable  of  no  excuse ;  it  was,  the  attainting  of  some  persons, 
whom  they  held  in  custody,  without  bringing  them  to  a  trial :  360 
concerning  which,  I  shall  add  what  the  great  lord  chief  justice 
4lnstit.37.  Coke  writes,:  "  Although  I  question  not  the  power  of  the  par- 
"  liament,  for  without  question  the  attainder  stands  of  force  in 
"  law,  yet  this  I  say  of  the  manner  of  proceeding ;  Auferat 
"  oblivio,  si  potest,  si  non  utrumque  silentium  tegat.  For  the 
"  more  high  and  absolute  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  is,  the 
"  more  just  and  honourable  it  ought  to  be  in  the  proceedings, 
"  and  to  give  example  of  justice  to  inferior  courts."  The  chief  of 
these  were,  the  marchioness  of  Exeter,  and  the  countess  of 
Sarum.  The  special  matter  charged  on  the  former  is,  her 
confederating  herself  to  sir  Nicholas  Carew  in  his  treasons  :  to 

12  Thuanus   calls   him  William,  only  when  he  became  a  friar,  is  not 
and  says  he  was  loci  ignobilis.     But  certain.    He  was  descended  from  an 
his  true  name  by  which  he  was  made  ancient  and  eminent  family  in  War- 
cardinal    was    Peter.     Whether   he  wickshire,  yet  remaining.    [F.] 
was   so   christened   or   assumed  it 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1539.)  565 

which  is  added,  "  that  she  had  committed  divers  other  abomin- 

"  able  treasons.    The  latter  is  said  to  have  confederated  herself 

"  with  her  son  the  cardinal,  with  other  aggravating  words." 

It  does  not  appear  by  the  Journal  that  any  witnesses  were  [journals 

examined;  onlv  that  day,  that  the  bills  were  read  the  third  of Lords> 
"  P-  io7-1 

time  in  the  house  of  lords,  Cromwell  shewed  them  a  coat  of 

white  silk,  which  the  lord  admiral  had  found  among  the 
countess  of  Sarum's  clothes,  in  which  the  arms  of  England 
were  wrought  on  the  one  side,  and  the  standard,  that  was 
carried  before  the  rebels,  was  on  the  other  side.  This  was 
brought  as  an  evidence  that  she  approved  of  the  rebellion. 
Three  Irish  priests  were  also  attainted  for  carrying  letters  out 
of  Ireland  to  the  pope,  and  cardinal  Pole ;  as  also  Sir  Adrian 
Fortescue,  for  endeavouring  to  raise  rebellion  ;  Thomas  Ding- 
ley,  a  knight  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  Robert  Granceter, 
merchant,  for  going  to  several  foreign  princes,  and  persuading 
them  to  make  war  upon  the  king,  and  assist  the  lords  Darcy 
and  Hussey  in  the  rebellion  they  had  raised.  Two  gentlemen, 
a  Dominican  friar  and  a  yeoman,  were  by  the  same  act 
attainted  for  saying,  that  that  venomous  serpent,  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  was  supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England.  Another 
gentleman,  two  priests,  and  a  yeoman,  were  attainted  for  treason 
in  general,  no  particular  crime  being  specified.  Thus  sixteen 
persons  were  in  this  manner  attainted ;  and  if  there  was  any 
examination  of  witnesses  for  convicting  them,  it  was  either  in 
the  star-chamber,  or  before  the  privy-council ;  for  there  is  no 
mention  of  any  evidence  that  was  brought  in  the  Journals. 
There  was  also  much  haste  made  in  the  passing  this  bill ;  it 
being  brought  in  the  tenth  of  May,  was  read  that  day  for  the  [Journals 

first  and  second  time,  and  the  eleventh  of  May  for  the  third  ofLords> 

.  P*  io7-J 

time.     The  commons  kept  it  five  days  before  they  sent  it  back, 

and  added  some  more  to  those  that  were  in  the  bill  at  first ; 

but  how  many  were  named  in  the  bill  originally,  and  how  many 

were    afterwards   added,    cannot   be   known.     Fortescue   and  [Stow,  p. 

Dingley  suffered  the  tenth  of  July.     As  for  the  countess  of  W'\ 

Sarum,  the  lord  Herbert  saw  in  a  record,  that  bulls  from  the  p.  509.] 

pope  were  found  in  her  house ;   "  that  she  kept  correspondence 

"  with  her  son,  and  that  she  forbade  her  tenants  to  have  the 

"  New  Testament  in  English,  or  any  other  of  the  books  that 

"  had  been  published  by  the  king's  authority."     She  was  then 


566  THE   HISTORY   OF  [parti. 

"  about  seventy  years  of  age  ;  but  shewed,  by  the  answers  she 
made,  that  she  had  a  vigorous  and  masculine  mind.     She  was 
kept  two  years  prisoner  in  the  Tower  after  the  act  had  passed  ; 
the  king,  by  that  reprieve,  designing  to  oblige  her  son  to  a 
better  behaviour  :    but,  upon  a  fresh  provocation,  by  a  new 
rebellion  in  the  north,  she  was  beheaded ;  and  in  her  the  name  361 
and   line   of  Plantagenet   determined.      The   marchioness    of 
[Stow,  p.     Exeter  died  a  natural  death.    In  November  this  year  were  the 
abbots  of  Reading,  Glastonbury,  and  Colchester  attainted  of 
treason  ;  of  which  mention  was  made  formerly 13. 
1540.         In  the  parliament  that  sat  in  the  year  1540,  they  went  on  to 
follow   that  strange    precedent,   which   they   had   made    the 
[Cap.  58.     former  year.    By  the  fifty-sixth  act,  Giles  Heron  was  attainted 
jn°sta-m  et  °f  treason ;  no  special  matter  being  mentioned. 
tutes.]  By  the  fifty-seventh  act,  Richard  Fetherston,  Thomas  Abel, 

ditto.]' 9  and  Edward  Powell,  priests  ;  and  William  Horn,  a  yeoman  ; 
were  attainted  for  denying  the  king's  supremacy,  and  adhering 
to  the  bishop  of  Rome.  By  the  same  act,  the  wife  of  one 
Tyrrell,  esquire,  was  attainted  for  refusing  the  duty  of  alle- 
giance, and  denying  prince  Edward  to  be  prince  and  heir  of 
the  crown :  and  one  Laurence  Cook,  of  Doncaster,  was  also 
attainted  for  contriving  the  king's  death. 
[Cap.  60.  By  the  fifty-eighth  act,  Gregory  Butolph,  Adam  Damplipp, 
c  n  °'i  and  Edward  Brindholme,  clerks ;  and  Clement  Philpot,  gentle- 
man ;  were  attainted  for  adhering  to  the  bishop  of  Rome,  for 
corresponding  with  cardinal  Pole,  and  endeavouring  to  surprise 
the  town  of  Calais.  By  the  same  act,  Barnes,  Gerrard,  and 
Jerome  were  attainted ;  of  whose  sufferings  an  account  has 
been  already  given14. 
[Cap.  61.  By  the  fifty-ninth  act,  William  Bird,  a  priest,  and  chaplain 
ditto.]  £Q  j.jie  jorj  Hungerford,  was  attainted  for  having  said  to  one 
that  was  going  to  assist  the  king  against  the  rebels  in  the 
north,  "  I  am  sorry  thou  goest ;  seest  thou  not  how  the  king 
"  plucketh  clown  images  and  abbeys  every  day  ?  And  if  the 
"  king  go  thither  himself,  he  will  never  come  home  again,  nor 
"  any  of  them  all  which  go  with  him ;  and  in  truth  it  were  pity 
"  he  should  ever  come  home  again."  And  at  another  time, 
upon  one's  saying,  "  0  good  Lord,  I  ween  all  the  world  will  be 

13  [Vide  supra,  p.  267.]  I4  [Vide  supra,  p.  297.] 


book  m.]  THE  REFORMATION.     (1540.)  567 

"  heretics  in  a  little  time  j"  Bird  said,  "  Dost  thou  marvel  at 
"  that  ?  I  tell  thee,  it  is  no  marvel,  for  the  great  master  of  all 
"  is  an  heretic  ;  and  such  a  one  as  there  is  not  his  like  in  the 
"  world." 

By  the  same  act  the  lord  Hungerford  was  likewise  attainted. 
"  The  crimes  specified  are,  that  he,  knowing  Bird  to  be  a 
"  traitor,  did  entertain  him  in  his  house  as  his  chaplain ;  that 
"  he  ordered  another  of  his  chaplains,  sir  Hugh  Wood,  and 
"  one  Dr.  Maudlin,  to  use  conjuring,  that  they  might  know 
"  how  long  the  king  should  live,  and  whether  he  should  be 
v  victorious  over  his  enemies  or  not ;  and  that  these  three 
"  years  last  past  he  had  frequently  committed  the  detestable 
"  sin  of  sodomy  with  several  of  his  servants."  All  these  were 
attainted  by  that  parliament.  The  lord  Hungerford  was 
executed  the  same  day  with  Cromwell :  he  died  in  such  dis- 
order, that  some  thought  he  was  phrenetic,  for  he  called  often 
to  the  executioner  to  despatch  him  ;  and  said,  he  was  weary  of 
life,  and  longed  to  be  dead ;  which  seemed  strange  in  a  man 
that  had  so  little  cause  to  hope  in  his  death.  For  Powell, 
Fetherston,  and  Abel,  they  suffered  the  same  day  with  Barnes 
and  his  friends,  as  hath  been  already  shewn  1 5. 

This  year  Sampson,  bishop  of  Chichester,  and  one  doctor  [May  29. 
Wilson,  were  put  in  the  Tower,  upon  suspicion  of  correspond-  St°w>  P- 
encc  with  the  pope :  but  upon  their  submission  they  had  their 
pardon  and  liberty.     In  the  year  1541,  five  priests,  and  ten  [Hall,  p. 
362  secular  persons,  some  of  them  being  gentlemen  of  quality,  were  84T"^ 
raising  a  new  rebellion  in  Yorkshire ;    which  was  suppressed  in 
time,  and  the  promoters  of  it  being  apprehended,  were  attainted 
and  executed ;  and  this  occasioned  the  death  of  the  countess  of 
Sarum,  after  the  execution  of  the  sentence  had  been  delayed 
almost  two  years. 

The  last  instance  of  the  king's  severity  was  in  the  year  1543, 
in  which  one  Gardiner,  that  was  the  bishop  of  Winchester's 
kinsman  and  secretary,  and  three  other  priests,  were  tried  for 
denying  the  king's  supremacy,  and  soon  after  executed ]  6.  But 
what  special  matter  was  laid  to  their  charge,  cannot  be  known ; 
for  the  record  of  their  attainder  is  lost. 

15  [Vide  supra,  p.  297.]  Their  names  are  there  said  to   be 

16  Gardiner  was  executed ;  the  Master  More,  Master  Heyhode,  and 
other  three  were  pardoned  according     Master  Roper.    [B.] 

to  an  account  I  have  seen  in  MS. 


568     THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION.       [part  i. 

The  con-  These  were  the  proceedings  of  this  king  against  those  that 
elusion.  adhered  to  the  interests  of  Rome  :  in  which,  though  there  is 
great  ground  for  just  censure,  for  as  the  laws  were  rigorous,  so 
the  execution  of  them  was  raised  to  the  highest  that  the  law 
could  admit :  yet  there  is  nothing  in  them  to  justify  all  the 
clamours  which  that  party  have  raised  against  king  Henry, 
and  by  which  they  pursue  his  memory  to  this  day ;  and  are  far 
short,  both  in  number  and  degrees,  of  the  cruelties  of  queen 
Mary's  reign,  which  yet  they  endeavour,  all  that  is  possible,  to 
extenuate  or  deny. 

To  conclude  ;  we  have  now  gone  through  the  reign  of  king 
Henry  the  Eighth,  who  is  rather  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
great  than  the  good  princes.  He  exercised  so  much  severity 
on  men  of  both  persuasions,  that  the  writers  of  both  sides  have 
laid  open  his  faults  and  taxed  his  cruelty.  But  as  neither  of 
them  were  much  obliged  to  him,  so  none  have  taken  so  much 
care  to  set  forth  his  good  qualities,  as  his  enemies  have  done  to 
enlarge  on  his  vices :  I  do  not  deny  that  he  is  to  be  numbered 
among  the  ill  princes,  yet  I  cannot  rank  him  with  the  worst. 


THE  END  OF  THE  THIRD  BOOK  AND  OF  THE  FIRST  PART. 


AN    APPENDIX, 


CONTAINING 


SOME    PAPERS 

11ELATING   TO   THE   FIRST  VOLUME 


OF    THE 


HISTORY     OF     THE     REFORMATION 


OF    THE 


CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND. 


AN    APPENDIX,   &< 


A  letter  written  to  me  by  Anthony  Wood,  in  justification  of  his 
History  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  with  reflections  on  it ; 
referred  to  alphabetically. 

Sir, 

Your  book  of  The  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England 
I  have  lately  perused,  and  finding  myself  mentioned  therein, 
not  without  some  discredit,  I  thought  fit  to  vindicate  my  self  so 
far  in  these  animadversions  following,  that  you  may  see  your 
mistakes,  and  accordingly  rectify  them  (if  you  think  fit)  in  the 
next  part  that  is  yet  to  publish. 

P.  86.  But  after  he  has  set  down  the  instrument,  he  gives 
some  reasons,  fyc. 

The  two  first  reasons  (if  they  may  be  so  called)  ]  were  put  in  [Hist,  et 
by  another  hand ;   and  the  other  were  taken  from  these  three  ^niy1 
books  following,  -viz.  from  Dr.  Nicholas  Harpesfield's  Treatise  Oxon. 
concerning  Marriage,  &c.  which  is  a  fair  manuscript  in  folio ;  p' 2l 
written  either  in  the  time  of  queen  Mary,  or  in  the  beginning 
of  queen  Elizabeth,  and  'tis  by  me  quoted  in  my  book,  in  the 
place  excepted  against.     From  William  Forest's  Life  of  Queen 
Catharine,  written  in  the  reign  of  queen  Mary,  and  dedicated 
to  her.     Tis  a  manuscript  also,  and  written  very  fairly  in 
parchment.     From  3An  Apology  for  the  Government  of  the 
University  against  King  Henry  the  Vlllth.     Written  by  a 
master  of  arts  septimo  Elizabethan.     'Tis  a  manuscript  also, 
and  hath  all  the  king's  letters  therein,  written  to  the  university 
about  the   question   of  marriage  and   divorce,   with   several 
passages  relating  to  convocations  concerning  the  said  questions. 

1  T  could  not  know  this  :  he  is  Parsons'  book,  an  author  of  no 
publishes  them,  and  is  justly  to  be  better  credit  than  the  former ;  for 
charged  with  them.  he  was  a  master  of  arts  in  Balliol 

2  From  such  authorities  what  else  college,  in  queen  Elizabeth's  time, 
was  to  be  expected  ?  See  Wood  in   Ball.   Coll.  [torn.  ii. 

3  This,  as  Dr.  Lloyd  informs  me,  p.  78.] 


572  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

So  that  by  this  you  see  I  do  not  frame  those  reasons  out  of 
mine  owne  head  (as  partial  men  might)  but  what  other  authors 
dictate  to  me. 

P.  86.   (upon  what  design  I  cannot  easily  imagine,) 

No  design  at  all  God-wot,  but  meerlie  for  truth's  sake, 
which  very  few  in  these  days  will  deliver. 

Ibid,  and,  as  if  it  had  been  an  ill  thing,  he  takes  pains 
to  purge  the  universities  of  it,  Sfc. 

It  was  an  ill  thing  I  think,  (I  am  sure  it  was  taken  so  to  be,) 
for  a  prince  by  his  letters  to  frighten4  people  out  of  their 
conscience,  and  by  menaces  force  them  to  say  what  must  please 
him.  But  seeing  the  masters  would  not  be  frightened,  and 
therefore  they  were  laid  aside,  (the  matter  being  discussed  by 
a  few  old  timorous  doctors  and  bachelors  of  divinity,  who 
would  say  any  thing  to  please  the  king,  lest  danger  should 
follow,)  they  ought  to  be  commended,  or  at  least  justified  for 
keeping  their  consciences  safe. 

Ibid,  and,  without  any  proof,  gives  credit  to  a  lying  story 
set  down  by  Sanders,  of  an  assembly  called  in  the  night. 

Sanders  is  not  my  author,  for  he  says  no  such  thing  in  his 
book  de  Schismate,  of  an  assembly5  called  by  night;  my 
author  for  this  is  the  Apology  before  mentioned,  which  adds, 
that  "  when  a  regent  of  Balliol  college  (whom  they  called  king 
"  Henry)  heard  that  the  commissary,  and  his  company,  were 
"  going  to  despatch  this  night  work,  denied  the  seal  with  his 
"  breeches  about  his  shoulders,  for  want  of  a  hood."  See  in 
Hist,  et  Antiq.  Oxon.  lib.  i.  p.  %56.  A6.  The  truth  is,  the 
meeting  was   unseasonable,  and  their   actions   clancular ;   as 

4  I   do  not  find  there  was   any  learning  and  conscience, 

frightening  threatenings ;   none  ap-  b    He   says   it   was  called  clam. 

pear  in   the  king's  letters.     If  he  [p.  51.]  That  could  hardly  be,  but 

had  this  from  any  good  authors,  he  in  the  night :    so  this  is  no  material 

had  done  well  to  have  quoted  them,  difference.  In  the  rest  you  agree  with 

It  is  not  honourable  for   the  uni-  Sanders. 

versity,   as   it  is   not  probable,  to  6  I  see  no  reason  for  this.  Thein- 

represent     all     the     doctors     and  strument  set  forth  by  the  lord  Her- 

bachelors  of  divinity,  as  men  apt  to  bert  [p.  352]  shews,  that  the  persons 

be    frightened   out    of    their    con-  deputed  had  good  authority  to  set 

sciences  ;  and  that  only  the  masters  the  university  seal  to  their  determi- 

of  arts    were   impregnable.     It   is  nation :  and  they  were  not  tied  to 

rather  to  be  supposed  that  the  one  forms,  but  might  have  done  it  at 

sort  were  carried  away  by  faction  ;  any  time, 
and  that  the  others  were  guided  by 


app.]  THE  REFORMATION.  573 

being  protested  against  by,  and  done  without  the  consent  of  the 
regents.  And  as  for  Sanders,  though  I  cannot  well  defend 
him,  yet  many  things  in  his  book  de  Schismate,  especially 
those  relating  to  the  university  of  Oxford,  I  find  from  other 
places  to  be  true". 

P.  86.  But  it  appear^  that  he  had  never  seen  or  considered 
the  other  instrument,  to  which  the  university  set  their  seal. 

The  grand  collection,  or  farrago,  which  Mr.  Thomas  Masters 
made,  (by  the  lord  Herbert's  appointment,)  in  order  to  the 
writing  of  King  Henry  the  VIHth's  Life,  I  have  seen  and 
perused,  but  could  not  with  all  my  diligence  find  that  instrument 
(as  you  call  it,  yet  we,  an  act  or  decree)  of  convocation  ; 
neither  in  the  three  great  folios,  written  by  another  hand, 
containing  materials  at  large  for  the  said  Life ;  neither  in  any 
of  the  registers,  records,  or  papers  belonging  to  the  university. 
So  that  for  these  reasons,  and  that  because  the  lord  Herbert  [Herbert, 
says,  "  it  was  blurred,  and  not  intended  for  the  king,"  and  also  p'  3S3'-' 
not  under  seal,  (you  say  'twas,)  neither  passed  in  the  house 
by  the  majority  of  votes ;  therefore  did  I  omit  it,  as  not 
authentic8.  I  truly  believe,  or  at  least  have  good  grounds  to 
think,  that  it  was  only  drawn  up,  and  not  proposed ;  for  if  it 
had,  it  would  have  been  registered :  there  being  nothing  pro- 
posed, either  in  convocation  or  congregation,  but  is  registered, 
whether  denied,  or  not.  And  the  register  of  that  time  is  most 
exactly  kept ;  and  nothing  thence,  as  I  can  perceive,  is  torn  out. 

Ibid.  There  seems  to  be  also  another  mistake  in  the  relation 
lie  gives  :  for  lie  says,  those  of  Paris  had  determined  in  this 
matter. 

7  Yes,  such  authors  as  you  quote  :  beginning  of  it  shews  it  was  not 
you  say  you  cannot  well  defend  subscribed  ;  for  it  is  in  the  name  of 
Sanders.  It  seems  you  would  if  John  Cotisford,  their  commissary  : 
you  could.  These  are  soft  words  so  it  must  have  been  either  in  the 
concerning  that  scandalous  writer.  form   of  a  notary's  instrument,  or 

8  All  that  you  say  here  is  only  must  have  had  the  seal  put  to  it, 
negative  authority;  but  since  the  for  he  calls  it  an  original.  Perhaps 
lord  Herbert  [p.  352.]  says  he  saw  the  blurring  of  it  might  either  be 
the  original,  though  it  is  not  in  any  casual,  or  when  it  was  brought  to 

of  these  collections,  you  must  either     court,   the  king  might   have  made  a  These 

believe  it,  or  make  him  a  liar  :    and      some  alterations  in  it,  that  it  might  words  in 

if  it  was  an  original,  it  must  either     be  renewed  according  to  these  cor-  Jta^cs  are 

have  been  subscribed  by  the  hands     rections.    aIt  miqht  be  casual :  lord  !"  ,  e     r 
r  11  ti  1  bishop  of 

of  the   persons   deputed,    or  must      Herbert  says  not  that  it  teas  rased  Worces- 

have  had  the  seal  put  to  it.     The     out,  fyc.  ter's  hand. 


574 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


[part 


[Hist,  et 
Antiq. 
Univ. 
Oxon, 
P-  255-] 


I  sayy  so  from  Warham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  then 
chancellor  of  the  university ;  who  in  his  letters  thereunto 
desires  the  members  "  to  make  what  expedition  they  could,  to 
"  give  in  their  answer  to  the  king"^  question ;  forasmuch  as 
"  Paris  and  Cambridge  had  done  it  already." — For  this  I  quote 
the  book  of  Ejjistles,  in  Archiv.  Lib.  Bod.  MS.  epist.  197. 
Yet,  I  believe,  the  archbishop  said  this,  to  hasten  the  university 
of  Oxon  the  more ;  though  probably  it  was  not  so.  However,  I 
am  not  to  take  notice  of  that,  but  to  follow  record  as  I  find  it. 
And  that  I  do  follow  record  throughout  all  my  book,  there  is 
not  one  (I  presume)  of  the  senate  of  antiquaries  can  deny  it : 
and  therefore,  how  there  can  be  many  things  in  my  book  (of 
my  framing)  that  are  enemies  to  the  reformation  of  the  church 
of  England,  as  was  suggested  by  you  to  sir  Harbottle  Grimston, 
(who  thereupon  made  a  complaint  in  open  parliament,  last 
April,  against  the  said  book,)  I  cannot  see10.  Truth  ought  to 
take  place  :  and  must  not  be  concealed,  especially  when  'tis  at 
a  distance.  And  if  our  religion11  hath  had  its  original,  or 
base,  on  lust,  blood,  ruin,  and  desolation,  (as  all  religions, 
or  alterations  in  governments,  have  had  from  one  or  more  of 
them,)  why  should  it  be  hidden,  seeing  it  is  so  obvious  to  all 
curious  searchers  into  record  ? 

This  is  all  from  him 

that  studies  truth, 

Anthony  a  AYood. 
July  the  5th,  1679. 


9  In  this  you  had  a  warrant  for 
what  you  wrote,  but  I  had  a  better 
to  correct  it  by. 

10  I  do  profess  I  do  not  remember 
that  I  ever  mentioned  your  book  to 


him :  and  sir  Harbottle  himself, 
when  I  asked  him  the  question,  said, 
he  never  heard  me  speak  of  it. 

11  This  is  writ  very  indecently, 
neither  like  a  divine  nor  a  Christian. 


app.]  THE   REFORMATION.  575 

A  letter  to  M.  Auzout,  which  was  translated  into  French, 
upon  his  procuring  for  me  a  Censure  in  writing,  made 
in  Paris,  upon  the  first  volume  of  my  History  of  the 
Reformation. 

Sir,  Paris,  the  10th  of  August,  1685. 

When  I  came  last  to  Paris,  I  was  told  there  was  a  Censure 
of  the  first  volume  of  my  History  of  the  Reformation  going 
about  in  writing.  I  was  glad  to  hear  of  this,  when  I  was  upon 
the  place,  ready  either  to  justify  myself,  or  to  acknowledge 
such  mistakes  as  should  be  offered  to  me :  for  I  am  ready, 
upon  conviction,  to  retract  anything  that  may  have  fallen  from 
my  pen,  as  soon  as  I  see  cause  for  it,  with  all  the  freedom  and 
candour  possible.  I  should  be  much  more  out  of  countenance, 
to  persist  in  an  error,  when  I  am  convinced  of  it,  than  to 
acknowledge,  that  in  such  a  multitude  of  matters  of  fact,  of 
which  my  History  makes  mention,  I  might  have  been  mis- 
informed in  some  particulars,  and  have  mistaken  others ;  which 
I  was  resolved  to  rectify,  when  discovered,  in  another  edition. 
This  made  me  very  desirous  to  see  what  it  was  that  had  been 
objected  to  me ;  and  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  procuring 
me  a  sight  of  it,  for  which  I  return  you  my  most  humble 
thanks. 

When  I  had  read  it  over  and  over  again,  I  confess  I  was 
amazed  to  find,  that  he  who  censured  me  so  severely  had  read 
my  book  so  slightly  ;  and  yet  gives  way  to  his  passions,  with 
so  little  judgment,  and  with  less  sincerity,  that,  among  all  the 
things  that  he  charges  me  with,  there  should  not  be  one  single 
particular  that  might  give  me  occasion  to  shew  my  readiness  to 
retract  what  I  had  written. 

What  can  be  expected  from  a  writer,  who,  after  the  list  I 
had  given  of  the  many  gross  errors  of  which  Sanders'  History 
was  made  up,  says,  "  That  I  have  proved  that  he  has  failed  in 
"  some  circumstances  that  may  seem  to  aggravate  the  matter 
"  more  or  less  ?"  If  any  man  will  be  at  the  pains  to  read  what  I 
have  proved,  of  the  falsehoods  in  that  author,  and  compare 
it  with  the  mild  censure  here  given ;  he  will  see  cause  to  be 
ashamed  of  it,  and  will  look  for  little  sincerity,  after  so  false  a 
step  made  in  the  beginning.     From  this,  he  goes  on  to  his 


576  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

main  design ;  and  runs  out  into  an  invective  against  king 
Henry  the  VHIth,  for  his  incontinences,  and  other  violences. 

If  I  had  undertaken  to  write  a  panegyric,  or  to  make  a  saint 
of  king  Henry,  he  might  have  triumphed  over  me  as  much  as 
he  pleased.  But  I,  who  have  neither  concealed  nor  excused 
any  of  his  faults,  am  no  way  concerned  in  all  this. 

There  are  only  two  things  that  I  advance  with  relation  to 
that  prince. 

The  first  is,  that  whatsoever  his  secret  motives  might  have 
been,  in  the  suit  of  the  divorce,  he  had  the  constant  tradition 
of  the  church  on  his  side,  and  that  in  all  the  ages  and  parts  of 
it ;  which  was  carefully  searched  into,  and  fully  proved  :  so 
that  no  author,  elder  than  cardinal  Cajetan,  could  be  found  to 
be  set  against  such  a  current  of  tradition.  And  in  the  disputes 
of  that  age,  with  those  they  called  heretics,  all  that  wrote  of 
the  popish  side  made  their  appeal  always  to  tradition,  as  the 
only  infallible  expounder  of  scripture  :  and  it  was  looked  on  as 
the  character  of  an  heretic,  to  expound  the  scripture  by  any 
other  key  or  method.  So  that  king  Henry  had  this  clearly 
with  him. 

The  other  particular  that  I  make  remarks  on  is,  that  the 
reformation  is  not  at  all  to  be  charged  with  king  Henry's 
faults :  for  that  unsteady  favour  and  protection,  which  they 
sometimes  found  from  him,  can  signify  no  more  to  blemish 
them,  than  the  vices  of  those  princes  that  were  the  great 
promoters  of  Christianity  signify  to  cast  a  blemish  on  the 
Christian  religion.  Let  the  crimes  of  king  Clovis,  as  they  are 
related  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  be  compared  with  the  worst  things 
that  can  be  said  of  king  Henry ;  and  then  let  any  man  see  if 
he  finds  so  much  falsehood,  mixed  with  so  much  cruelty,  in  so 
many  repeated  acts,  and  in  such  a  number  of  years,  in  king 
Henry  the  VHIth,  as  he  will  find  in  king  Clovis.  Nor  do  we 
see  any  hints  of  Clovis'  repentance,  or  of  any  restitution  made 
by  him,  of  those  dominions  that  he  had  seized  on  in  so  criminal 
a  manner,  to  the  right  heirs ;  without  which,  according  to  our 
maxims,  his  repentance  could  not  be  accepted  of  God.  And 
this  was  the  first  Christian  king  of  the  Franks. 

I  do  not  comprehend  what  his  design  could  be,  in  justifying 
pope  Gregory  the  Vlltlfs  proceedings  against  the  emperor, 
Henry  the  IVth,  with  so  much  heat.     One  that  reads  what  he 


app.]  THE  REFORMATION.  577 

writes  on  this  subject  can  hardly  keep  himself  from  thinking, 
that  he  had  something  in  his  eye  that  he  durst  not  speak  out 
art  iii.  more  plainly  ;  but  that  he  would  not  be  sorry  if  Innocent  the 
•  394-  xith  should  treat  the  great  monarch  as  Gregory  the  Vllth  did 
the  emperor,  and  as  Paul  the  Illrddid  king  Henry  the  Vlllth. 
But  whatsoever  his  own  thoughts  may  be.  I  desire  he  would 
not  be  so  familiar  with  my  thoughts,  as  to  infer  this  from  any 
concession  of  mine ;  for  I  allow  no  authority  to  the  bishops  of 
Rome  out  of  their  own  diocese.  The  additional  dignity  that 
they  came  to  have,  flowed  from  the  constitution  of  the  Roman 
empire  ;  and  since  Rome  is  no  more  the  seat  of  empire,  it  has 
lost  all  that  primacy  which  was  yielded  to  it  merely  by  reason 
of  the  dignity  of  the  city.  So  that  as  Byzance,  from  being 
a  small  bishopric,  became  a  patriarchal  seat  upon  the  exaltation 
of  that  city  ;  by  the  same  rule,  upon  the  depression  of  Rome, 
the  bishops  of  that  see  ought  to  have  lost  all  that  dignity,  that 
was  merely  accidental.  But  suppose  I  should  yield,  according 
to  the  notion  commonly  received  in  the  Gallican  church,  that 
the  pope  is  the  conservator  of  the  canons;  that  will  signify 
nothing,  to  justify  their  deposing  of  princes  ;  except  he  can 
shew  what  those  canons  were,  upon  the  violation  of  which, 
princes  may  be  deposed.  If  he  flies  to  the  canons  of  the  fourth 
council  in  the  Lateran,  those,  being  made  about  one  hundred  [a.  d. 
and  fifty  years  after  pope  Gregory's  proceedings  against  the  I2I5-] 
emperor,  will  not  justify  what  was  done  so  long  before  these 
were  made.  When  he  thinks  fit  to  speak  out  more  plainly 
upon  this  head,  it  will  be  more  easy  to  answer  him. 

As  for  the  supremacy  that  king  Henry  the  VTIIth  assumed 
in  ecclesiastical  matters,  he  should  not  have  condemned  that  so 
rashly  as  he  does,  as  a  novelty,  till* he  had  first  examined  the 
reasons  upon  which  it  was  founded  ;  not  only  those  drawn 
from  the  scriptures,  but  those  that  were  brought  from  the  laws 
and  practices,  both  of  the  Roman  emperors  and  of  the  kings  of 
England.  His  thoughts  or  his  pen  ran  too  quick,  when  he 
condemned  the  following  those  precedents,  as  a  novelty,  with- 
out giving  himself  the  trouble  of  inquiring  into  the  practices  of 
former  ages. 

He  charges  me  with  flying  to  the  rasure  of  the  registers  in 
queen  Mary's  time,  and  to  the  burning  of  others  in  the  fire  of 
London,  for  proving  several  things,  for  which  I  could  bring  qo 

BURNET,   PART  I.  P  p 


578  THE    HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

better    vouchers ;    and  for   relying   so   often   on  a  passionate 
writer.     I  suppose  Fox  is  the  person  hereby  pointed  at. 

When  he  applies  the  general  censure  to  any  particular  in  my 
work,  I  will  then  shew  that  it  amounts  to  nothing.  I  often 
stop,  and  shew  that  I  can  go  no  further,  for  want  of  proof : 
and  when  I  give  presumptions  from  other  grounds,  to  shew 
what  was  done,  I  may  well  appeal  to  the  rasure  or  loss  of 
records,  for  the  want  of  farther  proof.  But  this  I  never  do 
upon  conjectures,  or  slight  grounds.  And  as  for  Fox,  I  make 
a  great  difference  between  relying  upon  what  he  writes  barely 
upon  report,  (which  I  never  do,)  and  relying  upon  some 
registers,  of  which  he  made  abstracts.  For  having  observed 
an  exact  fidelity  in  all  that  he  took  out  of  such  registers  as  do 
yet  remain,  I  have  reason  to  depend  on  such  abstracts  as  he 
gives  of  registers  that  are  now  destroyed.  He  might  be  too 
credulous  in  writing  such  things  as  were  brought  him  by 
report ;  and  in  these  I  do  not  depend  on  him :  but  he  was 
known  to  be  a  man  of  probity  ;  so  I  may  well  believe  what  he  Part  iii. 
delivers  from  a  record,  though  that  happens  now  to  be  lost. 

The  censure  is  next  applied  to  Cranmer's  character.  He 
observes  great  defects  in  my  sincerity  and  (to  let  me  see  how 
civilly  he  intends  to  use  me,  he  says  he  will  not  add)  my  want 
of  judgment.  I  am  sure  he  has  shewed  a  very  ill  judgment  in 
charging  me  so  severely  in  so  tender  a  point  as  sincerity,  and 
using  a  reserve  in  another  point,  that  does  not  touch  me  so 
much.  I  am  accountable  both  to  God  and  man  for  my 
sincerity ;  but  I  am  bound  to  have  no  more  judgment  than 
God  has  given  me ;  and  so  long  as  I  maintain  my  sincerity 
entire,  I  have  little  to  answer  for,  though  I  may  be  defective 
in  the  other :  but  I  leave  it  to  you  to  judge  whether  the  defect 
was  in  his  sincerity  or  his  judgment,  when  he  does  not  bring 
any  one  particular  against  Cranmer,  but  what  he  takes  from 
me.  So  if  I  have  confessed  all  his  faults,  and  yet  give  a 
character  of  him  that  is  inconsistent  with  these,  I  may  be  justly 
charged  for  want  of  judgment ;  but  my  sincerity  is  still 
untainted.  When  he  reckons  up  his  charges  against  Cranmer, 
he  begins  with  this,  that  he  was  put  out  of  his  college  for  his 
incontinence.  He  was  then  a  layman,  under  no  vows,  only  he 
held  a  place,  of  which  he  was  incapable  after  he  was  married  ; 
now  what  sort  of  crime  can  he  reckon  this  marriage,  I  leave  it 


amp.]  THE  REFORMATION.  579 

to  himself  to  make  it  out.  His  next  charge  is,  that  though  I 
say  he  was  a  Lutheran,  yet  he  signed  the  six  articles,  which, 
he  says,  proves  that  he  valued  his  benefice  more  than  his 
conscience. 

He  wrote  this  with  too  much  precipitation,  otherwise  he 
would  have  seen  that  Cranmer  never  signed  those  articles. '  He 
disputed  much  against  them  before  they  passed  into  a  law  :  nor 
could  he  be  prevailed  on,  though  the  king  pressed  him  to  it,  to 
abstain  from  coming  to  the  parliament  while  that  act  passed. 
He  came  and  opposed  it  to  the  last ;  and,  even  after  the  law 
was  made,  he  wrote  a  book  for  the  king's  use  against  these 
articles.  There  was  no  clause  in  the  act  that  required  that 
they  should  be  signed.  Men  were  only  bound  to  silence  and 
submission.  If  he  was  at  all  faulty,  with  relation  to  that  act, 
it  was  only  in  this,  that  he  did  not  think  himself  bound  to 
declare  openly  against  it  when  it  was  published.  From  this, 
he  goes  next  to  charge  him  for  consenting  to  the  dissolution  of 
king  Henry's  marriage  with  Anne  of  Cleves,  upon  grounds 
plainly  contrary  to  those  upon  which  his  first  marriage  with 
Catharine  of  Spain  was  dissolved :  since  one  pretence  in  the 
divorce  of  Anne  of  Cleves  was,  that  it  was  not  consummated, 
though  in  the  other  it  was  declared  that  a  marriage  was  com- 
plete, though  not  consummated.  Whatever  is  to  be  said  of 
this  matter  the  whole  convocation  was  engaged  in  it.  Gardiner 
promoted  it  the  most  of  any.  So  the  bishops,  who  were  so 
zealous  for  popery  in  queen  Mary's  time,  were  as  guilty  as 
Cranmer.  I  do  not  deny  that  he  shewed  too  much  weakness 
in  this  compliance.  He  had  not  courage  enough  to  swim 
against  the  stream  :  and  he  might  think  that  the  dissolving  a 
marriage,  the  parties  being  contented,  was  not  to  be  much 
withstood.  But  my  censurer  is  afraid  to  touch  on  the  chief 
ground  on  which  that  marriage  was  dissolved ;  which  was,  that 
the  king  gave  not  a  pure,  inward  consent  to  it;  for  this 
Part  Hi.  touches  a  tender  point  of  the  intention  of  the  minister  in  the 
p' 396'  sacrament ;  on  which  I  did  not  reflect  when  I  wrote  my 
History.  By  the  doctrine  of  the  church  of  Rome,  the  parties 
are  the  ministers  ;  so,  if  the  intention  was  wanting,  there  was 
no  sacrament  in  this  marriage.  This  having  been  the  common 
doctrine  of  the  church  of  Rome,  some  remnant  of  that  might 
have  too  great  an  effect  on  Cranmer.     But  if  the  consenting  to 

p  p  2 


580  THE  HISTORY  OF  [part  i. 

an  unjust  sentence,  in  a  time  of  much  heat,  and  of  a  general 
consternation,  is  so  criminal  a  thing,  what  will  he  make  of 
Liberius,  Felix,  Hosius,  and  many  more,  whose  names  are  in 
the  Roman  calendar.  The  carrying  this  too  far  will  go  a  great 
way  to  the  justifying  the  Luciferians.  Whatever  may  be  in 
this,  I  had  opened  the  matter  of  Anne  of  Cleves  so  impartially, 
that  I  deserve  no  censure  on  that  account. 

After  he  had  attacked  the  matter  of  my  History  in  these 
particulars,  he  falls  next  upon  my  way  of  writing.  In  this,  I 
confess,  I  am  not  so  much  concerned  ;  for  if  the  things  are 
truly  related  by  me,  I  can  very  easily  bear  all  the  reflections 
that  he  can  lay  on  my  way  of  writing.  But,  that  he  may 
censure  me  with  a  better  grace,  he  bestows  some  good  words 
on  me.  "  He  is  not  displeased  with  my  preface,  and  the 
"  beginning  of  my  work :  but  all  these  hopes  were  soon 
"  blasted ;  I  fell  into  a  detail  of  little  stories,  with  which  he 
"  was  quite  disgusted."  Yet  if  he  had  considered  this  better, 
he  would  have  been  milder  in  his  censure.  My  design  was  to 
shew  what  seeds  and  dispositions  were  still  in  the  minds  of 
many  in  this  nation,  that  prepared  them  for  a  reformation,  in 
the  beginning  of  king  Henry's  reign,  before  ever  Luther  had 
preached  in  Germany,  and  several  years  before  that  king's 
divorce  came  to  be  treated  of  in  England.  I  therefore  judged 
it  was  necessary  for  me  to  let  the  reader  know  what  I  found  in 
our  registers  of  those  matters  ;  how  that  many  were  tried,  and 
some  condemned  upon  those  opinions,  that  were  afterwards 
reckoned  among  the  chief  grounds  of  our  separating  from  the 
church  of  Rome.  It  seemed  a  necessary  introduction  to  my 
work,  to  open  this  as  I  found  it  upon  record.  My  censurer 
blames  me  for  not  opening  more  copiously  what  the  opinions  of 
the  Lollards  and  the  Wycliffists  were  :  he  may  see  in  these 
articles  that  I  mention  what  the  clergy  were  then  charging 
them  with,  and  what  was  confessed  by  those  who  were  brought 
into  their  courts.  I  wrote  in  English  for  my  own  countrymen. 
There  are  many  books  that  give  a  very  particular  account  of 
Wycliffe  and  his  followers :  this  being  so  well  known,  it  was 
not  necessary  for  me  to  run  this  matter  up  to  its  original ;  all 
that  was  incumbent  on  me,  was  to  shew  the  present  state  of 
that  party,  and  their  opinions  and  sufferings  in  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  king  Henry  :    so  that  a  fair  judge  will  *not 


P-  397- 


APP.]  THE   REFORMATION.  581 

think  that  a  few  pages  spent  in  opening  this  was  too  great  an 
imposition  on  his  patience ;  this  having  such  a  relation  to  ray 
main  design  in  writing.  It  is  he,  and  not  I,  that  has  trans- 
gressed Polybius'  rule  :  he  considers  these  particulars  as  little 
stories,  without  observing  the  end  for  which  I  set  them  down  ; 
though  I  have  made  that  appear  so  plainly,  that  I  have  more 
reason  to  complain  of  his  sincerity  than  of  his  judgment. 
Part  iii.  His  next  exception  is,  that  I  give  abstracts  of  the  reasons  on 
which  the  proceedings  in  the  reformation  were  grounded.  He 
thinks  that  in  this  I  plead  as  an  advocate,  and  do  not  write  as 
an  historian.  I  do  believe  there  are  few  things  in  my  History 
with  which  he  is  more  displeased  than  this.  I  give  no  reasons 
of  my  own  making,  nor  do  I  put  speeches  in  the  mouths  of 
our  reformers ;  though  if  I  had  done  this,  he  knows  that  1 
could  have  said  that  I  followed  the  precedents  set  me  by  the 
best  writers  of  history,  both  among;  the  Greeks  and  the 
Romans.  But  since  I  was  engaged  to  write  of  a  reformation 
of  errors  in  doctrine,  and  of  abuses  in  worship  and  government, 
I  must  have  been  very  defective,  if  I  had  not  set  out  the 
reasons  upon  which  those  of  that  time  went,  as  well  as  I 
related  the  series  of  what  was  done  by  them.  Both  father 
Paul  and  cardinal  Pallavicino,  in  the  histories  that  they  wrote  of 
the  council  of  Trent,  have  related  the  arguments  used  of  all 
sides  very  copiously.  In  political  matters,  the  chief  use  and 
beauty  of  history  is  the  laying  open  the  secret  reasons  of  state 
upon  which  all  parties  have  proceeded  :  and  certainly  those 
who  write  concerning  matters  of  religion,  ought  to  open  all 
that  comes  in  their  way  of  the  grounds  on  which  any  changes 
were  made. 

He  thinks  all  the  king's  reasonings  for  the  divorce  were 
fully  answered  by  queen  Catharine's  reasons  against  it :  but  he 
does  not  consider  that  he  is  in  a  communion,  in  which  tradition 
is  set  up,  as  that  which  must  decide  all  controversies.  King 
Henry's  arguments  ran  all  upon  tradition  ;  whereas  the  queen 
pretended  to  no  tradition,  but  only  brought  arguments  of 
another  sort,  which  was  the  way  of  those  called  heretics  :  but 
in  that  matter  the  king  insisted  upon  tradition,  the  great  topic 
of  papists.  He  censures  me  for  bringing  a  Jew  on  the  stage 
after   I  had  set  out  the   opinions  of  the  universities  :    but  it 


582  THE    HISTORY    OF  [parti. 

seemed  very  reasonable  to  shew  the  notions  that  the  Jews  had 
of  their  own  laws. 

He  returns  again  to  reflections  on  the  divorce  of  Anne  of 
Cleves.  It  seems  he  had  few  things  to  reflect  on,  when  in  so 
short  a  paper  he  returns  twice  to  the  same  matter.  From  her 
he  passes  to  Anne  Boleyn  :  he  fancies  my  whole  design  in 
writing  was  to  establish  her  descent ;  but  that  I  do  not  acquit 
her  mother  of  the  imputations  Sanders  had  laid  on  her  ;  nor 
herself  of  the  amours  in  the  court  of  France,  and  king  Henry's 
ill  commerce  with  her.  If  the  crown  of  England  had  remained 
in  a  line  derived  from  that  queen,  it  might  be  supposed  that 
some  would  have  wrote  on  such  a  design :  but  that  not  being 
the  case,  there  is  little  reason  to  think  that  any  man  would 
have  given  himself  the  trouble,  only  on  design  to  justify  her 
title  to  the  crown.  I  have  made  it  fully  out  that  a  great  part 
of  Sanders'  charge  on  her  was  an  ill  invented  calumny,  to 
bring  her  right  to  the  crown  in  question ;  and,  by  proving 
some  part  of  his  relation  to  be  false,  I  have  destroyed  the 
credit  of  the  whole.  I  cannot  be  obliged  to  prove  the  negative 
in  every  particular  ;  the  proof  lies  upon  the  affirmative  ;  and 
the  author  of  a  train  of  defamation  is  sufficiently  disproved, 
when  it  is  apparent  that  some  parts  of  his  relation  must 
certainly  be  false.  If  any  of  these  slanders  had  been  in  any 
sort  believed  in  that  time,  there  is  no1  reason  to  think  that  the  Partiii. 
pope  or  the  emperor  would  have  published  them  :  for  the  p' 39 
court  of  Rome  kept  none  of  the  measures  of  common  decency 
with  the  king.  Nor  were  these  things  objected  to  Anne 
Boleyn  after  that-  her  unhappy  fate  gave  some  colour  to  believe 
every  thing  to  her  prejudice.  Her  brother  and  she  did  both 
at  their  death  deny  all  criminal  commerce  together  :  nor  was 
any  thing  proved  against  them,  only  the  testimony  of  a  dead 
woman  was  alleged  to  destroy  them. 

His  last  charge  relates  to  More  and  Fisher ;  but  how  this 
comes  to  support  his  censure  of  my  manner  of  writing  is  not  so 
clear.     I  seem  in  these  matters  to  write  like  one  that  intended 

1  [The  author  probably  meant  to  in  the  sense  of  at  the  time  when. 
say  either  there  is  no  reason  to  It  is  perhaps  another  instance  of  his 
doubt,  or  there  is  reason  to  think.']         inaccuracy  in  writing,  and  the  word 

2  [It    seems    unlikely  that  the      till  may  have  been  omitted.] 
author  uses    the   words  after  that 


app.]  THE  REFORMATION.  583 

to  raise  their  character,  rather  than  to  depress  it :  nor  do  I 
justify  king  Henry's  violences,  but  set  them  out  as  there  is 
occasion  for  it.  More  knew  a  law  was  made,  requiring  the 
subjects  to  swear  to  the  king  as  supreme  head,  under  the  pain 
of  perpetual  imprisonment ;  upon  which  he  ought  to  have  gone 
out  of  England,  since  he  resolved  not  to  take  the  oath.  Fisher 
knew  that  the  Nun  of  Canterbury  had  in  very  indecent  words 
foretold  the  king's  death,  and  had  not  revealed  it,  as  he  ought 
to  have  done. 

He  says  my  History  reflects  much  on  the  memory  of  king- 
Henry.  I  did  not  undertake  to  write  a  panegyric  on  him,  but 
only  to  write  the  history  of  that  time  :  in  doing  this,  as  I  have 
discovered  the  injustice  of  many  scandals  that  have  been  cast 
on  him,  so  I  have  not  spared  to  lay  open  many  ill  practices, 
when  I  was  obliged  to  do  it,  by  that  impartial  sincerity  to 
which  I  obliged  myself  when  I  undertook  that  work  :  though 
he  charges  me  as  biassed  by  partiality  ;  a  censure  I  deserved 
not.  But  I  do  more  easily  submit  to  his  charging  me  with  my 
ignorance  of  law,  and  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity.  Such  general 
censures  are  little  to  be  regarded  :  when  he  is  at  leisure  to 
reckon  up  the  particulars  in  which  I  have  erred,  I  shall  be  very 
glad  to  be  instructed  by  him.  For  though  I  have  looked  a 
little  into  law  and  ecclesiastical  history,  yet  I  value  myself 
upon  nothing  but  my  sincerity.  It  is  very  easy  to  lay  a 
detracting  character  in  some  general  words  upon  any  person. 
The  artifice  is  so  commonly  practised,  that  it  will  not  pass 
upon  any,  but  those  who  by  some  prejudices  are  prepared  to 
take  down  every  thing  that  is  boldly  asserted.  It  seems  that 
how  great  a  mind  soever  he  had  to  find  fault,  he  could  not  find 
much  matter  for  his  spleen  to  work  on,  when  in  so  short  a 
paper  he  is  forced  to  return  in  three  several  places  to  the 
article  of  the  divorce  of  Anne  of  Cleves  :  and  he  shews  such  an 
inclination  to  censure,  that  I  have  no  reason  to  think  he 
would  have  spared  me,  if  he  had  found  greater  matters  to 
have  objected  to  me.  So  all  he  says  that  seems  to  intimate 
that,  must  pass  for  words  of  course,  which  ought  to  make  no 
impression. 


The 


584     THE   HISTOHY   OF  THE   REFORMATION 


I'ART  I. 


[The  following  note  was  accidentally  omitted  at  p.  396,  1.  26.] 


^  They  {viz.  the  schoolmen  and 
canonists)  studied  to  make  bishops 
and  priests  seem  very  near  one 
another,  so  that  the  difference  was 
but  small.  Though  most  of  the 
schoolmen  asserted  bishops  and 
priests  to  he  of  the  same  order,  for 
the  reason  here  specified,  their  being 
equally  appointed  to  the  consecra- 
tion  of  the    eucharist,   which   they 


thought  to  be  the  highest  and  most  Part  iii. 
perfect  function ;  yet  they  allowed  P-  380- 
the  bishops  a  superiority  of  jurisdic- 
tion, which  some  of  them  were  con- 
tent to  call  a  superior  order;  as  the 
canonists  did  also  generally,  not- 
withstanding their  endeavours  to 
depress  the  episcopal  authority  for 
the  advancement  of  the  papal.   [G.] 


C  0 N T  ENTS 


OF    THE 


FIRST    PART    OF    THE    HISTORY. 


[The  pages  referred  to  are  those  of  the  first  and  second  folio  editions,  as  printed 
in  the  inner  margin  of  this  edition  ] 


BOOK    I. 

A  summary  view  of  king  Henry  the  Eighth's  reign  till  the  process  of 
his  divorce  was  begun,  in  which  the  state  of  England,  chiefly  as 
it  related  to  religion,  is  opened. 


K.TNG  Henry's  succession  to  the 
crown, Page   i 

He  proceeds  against  Dudley  and 
Empson ibid. 

He  holds  a  parliament, 2 

His  great  expense,     ibid. 

Affairs  beyond  sea,     3 

A  peace  and  match  with  France, . . .  ibid. 

He  offers  his  daughter  to  the  dau- 
phin,     ibid. 

The  king  of  Spain  chosen  emperor,  ibid. 

He  comes  to  England,  4 

A  second  war  with  France,  ibid. 

Upon  Leo  the  Xth's  death,  Adrian 
chosen  pope,    ibid. 

He  dies,  and  Clement  the  VHth 
succeeds, ibid. 

Charles  the  Vth  at  Windsor  con- 
tracted to  the  king's  daughter, ...        5 

But  breaks  his  faith,  ibid. 

The  Clementine  league,    ibid. 

Rome  taken  and  sacked,  6 

The  pope  is  made  a  prisoner,    ibid. 

The  king's  success  against  Scotland,  ibid. 

A  faction  in  his  counsels, 7 

Cardinal  Wolaey's  rising,  ibid. 

His  preferments,    8 


The  character  of  the  dukes,  of  Nor- 
folk and  Suffolk,    Page  9 

Cardinal    Wolsey    against    parlia- 
ments,        10 

The  king's  breeding  in  learning,  ...ibid. 

He  is  flattered  by  scholars,  11 

The  king's  prerogative  in  ecclesi- 
astical affairs, ibid. 

It  was  still  kept  up  by  him, 12 

A  contest  concerning  immunities,   ibid. 

A  public  debate  about  them,    13 

Hunne  murdered  in  prison, 14 

The  proceedings  upon  that, 15 

The  king  much  courted  by  popes, ...  18 
And  declared  defender  of  the  faith,  1 9 
The  cardinal  absolute  in  England,  ibid. 
He  designed  to  reform  the  clergy,  ibid. 

And  to  suppress  monasteries,  20 

The  several  kinds  of  convocations,  ibid. 
Theclergygrantasubsidytotheking,    2 1 

Of  the  state  of  monasteries,  ibid. 

The  cardinal  founds  two  colleges, ...  22 
The  first  beginning  of  Reformation 

in  England,     23 

The  cruelties  of  the  church  of  Rome;  ibid. 
The  laws  made  in  England  against 
heretics 25 


586 


CONTENTS  OF  THE 


Under  Richard  the  Ilnd, Page     25 

Under  Henry  the  I  Vth,    ibid. 

And  Henry  the  Vth,     26 

Heresy  declared  by  the  king's 
judges,     27 

Warham's  proceedings  against  he- 
retics,   ibid. 

The  bishop  of  London's  proceedings 
against  them, 29 

The  progress  of  Luther's  doctrine,       30 


His    books    were    translated    into 

English, Page     3 1 

The  king  wrote  against  him,    ibid. 

He  replied,     ibid. 

Endeavours  to  suppress  the  New 

Testament, 32 

Sir  Thomas    More    writes  against 

Luther,   ibid. 

Bilney  and  others  proceeded  against 

for  heresy,  ibid . 


BOOK    II. 

Of  the  process  of  divorce  between  king  Henry  and  queen  Catharine,  and 
of  what  passed  from  the  igth  to  the  2§th  year  of  his  reign,  in  which 
he  was  declared  supreme  head  of  the  church  of  England. 


THE  beginning  of  the  suit  of  di- 
vorce,        34 

Prince  Arthur  married  the  Infanta, ibid. 

And  died  soon  after, 35 

A  marriage  proposed  between 
Henry  and  her,     ibid. 

It  is  allowed  by  the  pope,     ibid. 

Henry  protested  against  it, 36 

His  father  dissuaded  it,     ibid. 

Being  come  to  the  crown  he  marries 
her, ibid. 

She  bore  some  children,  but  only 
the  lady  Mary  lived, ibid. 

Several  matches  proposed  for  her,      37 

The  king's  marriage  is  questioned 
by  foreigners,     ibid. 

Anno  1527. 

He  himself  has  scruples  concerning 

it,     ., ibid. 

The  grounds  of  these,    38 

All  his  bishops  except  Fisher  con- 
demn it ibid. 

The  reasons  of  state  against  it,     ...      39 

Wolsey  goes  into  France, ibid. 

The  king's  fears  and  hopes,  ibid. 

Arguments  against  the  bull,     40 

Calumnies  cast  on  Anne  Boleyn,...     41 


They  are  false  and  ill  contrived,  ...      42 

Her  birth  and  education, 43 

She   was   contracted    to    the    lord 

Percy,      44 

The  divorce  moved  for  at  Rome,...  45 
The  first  despatch  concerning  it,...  ibid. 

Anno  1528. 

The  pope  granted  it, 47 

And  gave  a  bull  of  dispensation, ...     48 

The  pope's  craft  and  policy, ibid. 

A  subtle  method  proposed  by  the 

pope,    49 

Staphileus  sent  from  England, 50 

The  cardinal's  letters  to  the  pope,  57 
A  fuller  bull  is  desired  by  the  king,  ibid. 
Gardiner    and    Fox    are    sent    to 

Rome, 52 

The  bull  desired  by  them,     ibid. 

Wolsey 's  earnestness  to  procure  it,     53 

Campeggio  declared  legate, 54 

He  delays  his  journey, ibid. 

The  pope  grants  the  decretal  bull,  55 
Two  letters  from  Anne  Boleyn  to 

Wolsey,  ibid. 

Wolsey  desires  the  bull  may  be 
seen  by  some  of  the  king's  coun- 
cil,          56 


FIRST  PART  OF  THE  HISTORY. 


587 


The  emperor  opposes  the  king's 
business Page     57 

A  breve  is  found  in  Spain,    ibid. 

It  was  thought  to  be  forged,     ibid. 

Campeggio  comes  to  England, 58 

And  lets  the  king  see  the  bull,    . . .  ibid. 

But  refuses  to  shew  it  to  others, . . .  ibid. 

Wolsey  moves  the  pope  that  some 
might  see  it,  ibid. 

But  in  vain,    59 

Campana  is  sent  by  the  pope  to 
England, 60 

The  king  offers  the  pope  a  guard, . . .  ibid. 

The  pope  inclines  to  the  emperor. . . .  ibid. 

Threatenings  used  to  him,    61 

Anno  1529. 

He  repents  the  sending  over  a  bull,  ibid. 

But  feeds  the  king  with  promises,     62 

The  pope's  sickness,  63 

Wolsey  aspires  to  the  papacy,     ...ibid. 
Instructions  for  promoting  him,  ...     64 

New  motions  for  the  divorce,  65 

The  pope  relapses  dangerously,    ...ibid. 

A  new  despatch  to  Rome,    66 

Wolsey's  bulls  for  the  bishopric  of 

Winton,  67 

The  emperor  protests  against  the 

legates,    ibid. 

Yet  the  pope  promises  not  to  recall  it,    ib. 

The  legates  write  to  the  pope, 68 

Campeggio  led  an  ill  life, 69 

The  emperor  moves  for  an  avocation,  ibid. 

The  pope's  dissimulation, 70 

Great  contests  about  the  avocation,  ibid. 

The  legates  begin  the  process, 72 

A  severe  charge  against  the  queen,  ibid. 
The   king   and   queen    appear    in 

court,  ibid. 

The  queen's  speech,  73 

The  king  declares  his  scruples,    . . .  ibid. 
The  queen  appeals  to  the  pope,    ...      74 
Articles  framed  and  witnesses  ex- 
amined,   ibid. 

An  avocation  pressed  at  Rome,   . . .  ibid. 
The  pope  j  oins  with  the  emperor, ...      75 

Yet  is  in  great  perplexities, ibid. 

The  avocation  is  granted, 76 

The  proceedings  of  the  legates, ibid. 

Campeggio  adjourns  the  court,    ...      77 


Which  gave  great  offence,    ...Page     77 

Wolsey's  danger,    ibid. 

Anne  Boleyn  returns  to  court, 78 

Cranmer's  opinion  about  the  di- 
vorce,        79 

Approved  by  the  king, 80 

Cardinal  Wolsey's  fall, ibid. 

The  meanness  of  his  temper,    81 

He  is  attached  of  treason,     ibid. 

He  dies  :  his  character,     82 

A  parliament  called, ibid. 

Complaints  against  the  clergy 83 

The  king's  debts  are  discharged, ...  ibid. 
The  pope  and  the  emperor  unite, ...  84 
The  women's  peace,  ibid. 

Anno  1530. 

The  emperor  is  crowned  at  Bologna,  ibid. 

The  universities  consulted  in  the 
king's  suit  of  divorce,    85 

The  answers  from  Oxford  and 
Cambridge 86 

D.  Croke  employed  in  Venice, 87 

Many  in  Italy  wrote  for  the  di- 
vorce,       88 

It  was  opposed  by  the  pope  and 
the  emperor,  89 

No  money  given  by  the  king's 
agents,     ibid. 

Great  rewards  given  by  the  em- 
peror,       90 

It  is  determined  for  the  king  at 
Bologna,  Padua,  Eerrara,  and 
Orleans,  91 

At  Paris,  Bourges,  and  Toulouse,     92 

The  opinions  of  some  reformers,  . . .  ibid. 

And  of  the  Lutherans, 94 

The  king  will  not  appear  at  Rome,  ibid. 

Cranmer  offers  to  defend  the  di- 
vorce,       95 

The  clergy,  nobility,  and  gentry 
write  to  the  pope  for  the  divorce,  ibid. 

The  pope's  answer  to  them, 96 

A  proclamation  against  bulls, ibid. 

Books  written  for  the  divorce, 97 

Reasons  out  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament, ibid. 

The  authorities  of  popes  and  coun- 
cils,       98 

And  the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers,     99 


f)H8 


CONTENTS   OF   THE 


And  canonists,  Page   ioo 

Marriage  is  complete  by  consent,    ibid. 
Violent  presumptions  of  the  con- 
summation  of  the  former  mar- 
riage,   ibid. 

The  pope's  dispensation  of  no  force,    101 
Bishops  are  not  to  obey  his  decrees,   102 

The  authority  of  tradition,  ibid. 

The  reasons  against  the  divorce, ...    103 

Answers  made  to  these,    104 

The  queen  is  intractable, 105 

Anno  1531. 

A  session  of  parliament,   ibid. 

The  clergy  found  in  a  praemunire,   106 
The  prerogatives  of  the  kings    of 

England  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  ibid. 

The  encroachments  of  popes,  ibid. 

Statutes  made  against  them,    107 

The   popes    endeavoured    to    have 

those  repealed,  109 

But  with  no  effect,    1 1 1 

The  clergy  excused  themselves,    ...    112 
Yet  they  submit  and  acknowledge 

the  king  supreme   head  of  the 

church,    ibid. 

The  king  pardons  them,    113 

And  with  some  difficulty  the  laity,  ibid. 

One  attainted  for  poisoning,     ibid. 

The  king  leaves  the  queen, 114 

A  disorder  among  the  clergy, ibid. 

The  pope  turns  to  the  French, 115 

And  offers  his  niece  to  the  duke  of 

Orleans,  ibid. 

The  Turk  invades  the  empire, 116 

Anno  1532. 

The  parliament  complains  of  the 

spiritual  courts, ibid. 

They  rej  ect  a  bill  concerning  wards,    117 

An  act  against  annates,    ibid. 

The  pope  writes  to  the  king,    118 

The  king's  answer,    ibid. 

Sir  Edward  Came  sent  to  Rome, ...    119 

His  negotiation  there,  120 

He  corrupts  the  cardinal  of  Bavenna,  ibid. 
The  process   against  the    king  at 

Rome 121 

A  bull  for  new  bishoprics,    ibid. 

The  pope   desires  the  king  would 
submit  to  him,    122 


A  new  session  of  parliament,  Page   122 

A  subsidy  is  voted,    123 

The  oaths  the  clergy  swore  to  the 

pope  and  to  the  king,    ibid. 

Chancellor  More  delivers  up    his 

office,  124 

The  king  meets  with  the  French 

king,   ibid. 

Eliot  sent  to  Rome,  125 

The  king  marries  Anne  Boleyn,  ...  126 
New  overtures  for  the  divorce,    . . .  ibid. 

Anno  1533. 

A  session  of  parliament,   ibid. 

An  act  against  appeals  to  Rome, . . .  ibid. 

Archbishop  Warham  dies,    127 

Cranmer  succeeds  him, ibid. 

His  bulls  from  Rome,    128 

His  consecration,  ibid. 

The  judgment  of  the  convocation 

concerning  the  divorce,     129 

Endeavours  to  make  the  queen  sub- 
mit,      130 

But  in  vain,   ibid. 

Cranmer  gives  judgment, 131 

Censures  that  pass  upon  it, ibid. 

The  pope  united  to  the  French  king,    1 33 
A  sentence  against  the  king's  pro- 
ceedings,    ..., ibid. 

Queen  Elizabeth  is  born,  134 

An  interview  between  the  pope  And 

the  French  king,    ibid. 

The  king  submits  to  the  pope,     ...  ibid. 
The  imperialists  oppose  the  agree- 
ment,      135 

And  procure  a  definitive  sentence,  1 36 
The  king  resolves  to    abolish  the 

pope's  power  in  England, ibid. 

It  was  long  disputed,    ibid. 

Arguments  against  it  from  scrip- 
ture,         137 

And  the  primitive  church,    138 

Arguments  for  the  king's  supremacy,  t  40 
From   Scripture   and  the  laws  of 

England, 141 

The  supremacy  explained,      t  42 

Pains  taken  to  satisfy  Fisher,  ....    143 

Anno  1534. 

A  session  of  parliament, ibid. 


FIRST    PART    OF   THE    HISTORY. 


589 


An  act  for  taking  away  the  pope'9 

power Page  144 

About  the  succession  to  the  crown,   145 

For  punishing  heretics,     147 

The  submission  of  the  clergy,  ....  ibid. 
About  the  election  of  bishops, ....    14S 

And  the  Maid  of  Kent, 1 49 

The  insolence  of  some  friars,  ....  151 
The  nun's  speech  at  her  death,    .      152 

Fisher  is  dealt  with  gently, 153 

The  oath  for  the  succession  taken 

by  many,     154 

More  and  Fisher  refuse  it,    155 

And  are  proceeded  against, 156 

Another  session  of  parliament,  .  .  157 
The  king's  supremacy  is  enacted, .  .  ibid. 
An  act  for  suffragan  bishops,  ....  ibid. 

A  subsidy  is  granted,    158 

More  and  Fisher  are  attainted,    .  .  ibid. 
The  progress  of  the  reformation,. .    159 
Tyndale  and  others  at  Antwerp  send 
over  books  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment,   ibid. 

The  Supplication  of  the  Beggars,. .    160 


More  answers,  and  Frith  replies, . .    161 
Cruel  proceeding  against  reformers,    1 62 

Bilney's  sufferings,    163 

The  sufferings  of  Byfield, 164 

And  Bainham,    .  .    165 

Articles  abjured  by  some,     ibid. 

Tracy's  testament, 1 66 

Frith's  sufferings, 167 

His  arguments  against  the  corporal 

presence  in  the  sacrament,  ....  ibid. 
His  opinion  of  the  sacrament  and 
purgatory  for  which  he  was  con- 
demned,      169 

His  constancy  at  his  death, 1 70 

A  stop  put  to  cruel  proceedings, .  .    171 
The  queen  favoured  the  reformers,  ibid. 

Cranmer  promoted  it,    ibid. 

And  was  assisted  by  Cromwell,  ..     172 

A  strong  party  against  it,    ibid. 

Reasons  used  against  it, ibid. 

And  for  it, 173 

The  judgment  of  some  bishops  con- 
cerning a  general  council,    ....    1 74 
A  speech  of  Cranmer's  of  it,     ....  ibid. 


BOOK   III. 

Of  the  other  transactions  about  religion  and  reformation,  during  the 
rest  of  the  reign  of  king  Henry  the  VHIth. 


Anno  1535. 
The  rest  of  the  king's  reign  was 

troublesome, 1 79 

By  the  practices  of  the  clergy,     . .  1 80 
Which  provoked  the  king  much,.  .  ibid. 
The  bishops  swear  the  king's  supre- 
macy,    181 

The  Franciscans  only  refuse  it.    .  .  182 

A  visitation  of  monasteries, ibid. 

The  instructions  of  the  visitors,   ..  184 

Injunctions  sent  by  them,    185 

The    state   of  the   monasteries  in 

England  and  their  exemptions,  186 
They  were  deserted,  but  again  set 

up  by  king  Edgar,    187 


Arts  used  by  the  monks, ibid. 

They  were  generally  corrupt,  ....    1 88 

And  so  grew  the  friars,     1 89 

The  king's  other  reasons  for  sup- 
pressing monasteries,     ibid. 

Cranmer's  design  in  it, 190 

The  proceedings  of  the  visitors,   . .  ibid. 
Some  houses  resigned  to  the  king,    191 

Anno  1536. 

Queen  Catharine  dies, ibid. 

A  session  of  parliament  in  which 
the  lesser  monasteries  were  sup- 
pressed,      193 

The  reasons  for  doing  it, ibid. 


590 


CONTENTS   OF    THE 


The    translation    of  the    Bible    in 

English  designed, Page   194 

The  reasons  for  it, ibid. 

The  opposition  made  to  it,   195 

Queen  Anne's  fall  driven  on  by  the 

popish  party, 1 96 

The  king  became  jealous, 197 

She  is  put  in  the  Tower, 198 

She     confessed     some     indiscreet 

words, 199 

Cranmer's  letters  concerning  her,  200 

She  is  brought  to  a  trial 201 

And  condemned,    202 

And  also  divorced,     203 

She  prepares  for  death,     204 

The  lieutenant  of  the  Tower's  let- 
ters about  her,   ibid. 

Her  execution, 205 

The  censures  made  on  this, ibid. 

Lady  Mary  is  reconciled  to  her 
father  and  makes  a  full  submis- 
sion,         207 

Lady  Elizabeth  is  well  used  by  the 

king,    208 

A  letter  of  hers  to  the  queen,  ....    209 

A  new  parliament  is  called, ibid. 

An  act  of  the  succession, 210 

The  pope  endeavours  a  reconcilia- 
tion,         211 

But  in  vain,    ibid. 

The  proceedings  of  the  convocation,  213 
Articles  agreed  on  about  religion,  215 
Published  by  the  king's  authority,   217 

But  variously  censured,    218 

The  convocation  declared  against 
the    council    summoned    by  the 

pope, 219 

The  king  publishes  his  reasons  a- 

gainst  it, 220 

Cardinal  Pole   writes   against  the 

king,    ibid. 

Many  books  are  written  for  the  king,  221 
Instructions  for  the  dissolution  of 

monasteries,     222 

Great  discontents  among  all  sorts,   223 
Endeavours  to  qualify  these,    ....  ibid. 
The  people  were  disposed  to  rebel,   224 
The  king's  injunctions  about  reli- 
gion,        225 

They  were  much  censured, 226 


A  rising  in  Lincolnshire, 227 

Their    demands    and    the     king's 

answer,   ibid. 

It   was   quieted    by    the    duke    of 

Suffolk,    228 

A  great  rebellion  in  the  north,  .  .  ibid. 
The  duke  of  Norfolk  was  sent  a- 

gainst  them,   230 

They  advance  to  Doncaster, ibid. 

Their  demands, 231 

The  king's  answer  to  them, 232 

Anno  1537. 

The  rebellion  is  quieted,   233 

New  risings  soon  dispersed, 234 

The  chief  rebels  executed,    ibid. 

A  new  visitation  of  monasteries, . .    235 

Some  great  abbots  resign,     ibid. 

Confessions    of  horrid   crimes   are 

made, 23  7 

Some  are  attainted,   238 

And  their  abbeys  suppressed,  ....  240 
The  superstition  and  cheats  of  these 

houses  discovered, 242 

Anno  1538. 

Some  images  publicly  broken, ....  ibid. 
Thomas  Becket's  shrine  broken,  . .  243 
New  injunctions  about  religion,  . .  245 
Invectives    against    the    king    at 

Rome, ibid. 

The  pope's  bulls  against  the  king,  ibid. 
The   clergy   in    England    declared 

against  these, 248 

The  Bible  is  printed  in  English,  . .    249 

New  injunctions,   ibid 

Prince  Edward  is  born,     250 

The  compliance  of  the  popish  party,  25 1 
Lambert  appealed  to  the  king,    .  .    252 

And  is  publicly  tried,    ibid. 

Many  arguments  brought  against 

him, 253 

He  is  condemned  and  burnt,  ....  254 
The  popish  party  gain  ground,  .  .  ibid. 
A  treaty  with  the  German  princes,  255 
Bonner's  dissimulation,     ibid. 

Anno  1539. 

A  parliament  is  called, 256 

The  six  articles  are  proposed,  ....  ibid. 


FLRST    PART   OF   THE    HISTORY. 


591 


Arguments  against  them,   .  .  Page  257 

An  act  passed  for  them,    258 

Which  is  variously  censured,  ....  259 
An  act  about  the  suppression  of  all 

monasteries,    260 

Another     for     erecting     new    bi- 
shoprics,      262 

The  king's  design  about  these,  . .  ibid. 
An  act  for  obedience  to  the  king's 

proclamations,    263 

An  act  concerning  precedence,     . .    264 

Some  acts  of  attainder, ibid. 

The  king's  care  of  Cranmer, 265 

Who  wrote  against  the  six  articles,  ibid. 

Proceedings  upon  that  act, 266 

Bonner's    commission   for   holding 

his  bishopric  of  the  king, 267 

The  total  dissolution  of  abbeys,  . .  ibid. 
Which  were  sold  or  given  away, .  .    26S 
A  project  of  a  seminary  for  minis- 
ters of  state,    269 

A  proclamation  for  the  use  of  the 

Bible, 270 

The  king  designs  to  marry  Anne  of 

Cleves,     ibid. 

Who  comes  over,  but  is  disliked  by 
the  king,     271 

Anno  1540. 

But  he  marries  her,  yet  could  never 

love  her, 273 

A  parliament  is  called, 274 

Where   Cromwell    speaks    as   lord 

vicegerent, ibid. 

The  suppression  of  the  knights  of 

St.  John  of  Jerusalem, 275 

Cromwell's  fall, 2  76 

The  king  is  in  love  with  Catharine 

Howard,      ibid. 

Cranmer's  friendship  to  Cromwell,   277 

Cromwell's  attainder,    278 

Censures  passed  upon  it. 279 

The  king's  divorce  is  proposed,  . .  280 
And  referred  to  the  convocation, . .  ibid. 

Reasons  pretended  for  it, ibid. 

The  convocation  agree  to  it, 281 

Which  was  much  censured, ibid. 

It  is  confirmed  in  parliament,  ....  282 
The  queen  consents  to  it, ibid. 


An  act  about  the  incontinence  of 

priests,   Page  282 

Another  act  about  religion, ......  ibid. 

Another  concerning  precontracts,  283 
Subsidies    granted   by   clergy  and 

laity,    ibid. 

Cromwell's  death, 284 

His  character,    ibid. 

Designs  against  Cranmer,     285 

Some  bishops  and  divines  consult 

about  religion,    286 

An  explanation  of  faith, ibid. 

Cranmer's  opinion  about  it, 288 

They  explain  the  Apostles'  Creed,  ibid. 
And  the  Seven  Sacraments,    with 

great  care, 289 

As  also  the  Ten  Commandments,.  .  290 
The  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ave  Maria, 

and  Free-will,     291 

And  Justification  and  Good  Works,  292 
Published  by  the  king,  but  much 

censured,     293 

A  correction  of  the  missals, 294 

The  sufferings  of  Barnes  and  others,  295 
They  are  condemned  unheard, ....  297 
Their  speeches  at  their  death, ....  ibid. 

Bonner's  cruelty,   299 

New  bishoprics  founded, 300 

Cranmer's  design  is  defeated,  ....  301 
These  foundations  are  censured,  .  .  ibid. 

The  state  of  the  court, 302 

The  Bible  is  set  up  in  churches,  . .  ibid. 
An  order  for  churchmen's  house- 
keeping,      303 

The  king  goes  to  York,    304 

The  state  of  Scotland,   ibid. 

The  beginning  of  the  Reformation,  305 
Patrick  Hamilton's  sufferings,     . .  ibid. 

A  further  prosecution, 308 

The    lung  was    wholly  guided   by 

the  clergy, 309 

Some  put  to  death,  others  escaped,  310 
The  queen's  ill  life  is  discovered,.  .    312 

Anno  1542. 

A  parliament  called, ibid. 

An  act  about  the  queen  much  cen- 
sured,      313 

A  design  to  suppress  the  English 
Bible, 314 


51C2   CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  PART  OF  THE  HISTORY 


The  Bible  ordered  to  be  revised  by 

the  universities, Page  315 

Bishop  Bonner's  injunctions,  ....  ibid. 
The  way  of  preaching  at  that  time,  316 
Plays  and  interludes  then  acted,. .  318 
War  between  Englandand  Scotland,  ibid. 
The  Scots  are  defeated  and  their  king 
dies,     320 

Anno  1543. 

Cranmer  promotes  a  reformation, .  .    321 

An  act  of  parliament  for  it, ibid. 

Another  about  the  king's  proclama- 
tions,        322 

A    league  between  the  king  and 

the  emperor, 323 

A  match  designed  with  Scotland, . .  ibid. 
But   the    French    party   prevailed 

there, 324 

A  war  with  France, 325 

A  persecution  of  the  reformers,  .  .  ibid. 
Marbeck's  great  ingeniousness,    . .    326 

Three  burnt  at  Windsor, 327 

Their  persecutors  are  perjured, ....  ibid. 

A  design  against  Cranmer, ibid. 

It  came  to  nothing,   328 

His  Christian  behaviour, ibid. 

Anno  1544. 

A  new  parliament ibid. 

An  act  about  the  succession,  ....  ibid. 
An  act  against  conspiracies,  ...  330 
An  act  for  revising  the  canon  law,  ibid. 
A  discharge  of  the  king's  debts, .  .  ibid. 

The  war  against  Scotland,    331 

Audley  the  chancellor  dies, ibid. 

The  prayers  are  put  in  English,  .  .  ibid. 
Boulogne  is  taken, 332 

Anno  1545. 

The  Germans  mediate  a  peace  be- 
tween England  and  France,. .  . .  ibid. 
Some  great  church  preferments,  . .    333 
Wishart's  sufferings  in  Scotland,. .  ibid. 
Cardinal  Beaton  is  killed,     336 

Anno  1546. 
A  new  parliament,    338 


Chapters  and   chantries   given    to 

the  king,     Page  338 

The  king's  speech  to  the  parliament,  ibid. 
The   king  confirms   the   rights  of 

universities,    334 

A  peace  with  France,  340 

Designs  of  a  further  reformation,  ibid. 

Shaxton's  apostasy, ibid. 

The  troubles  of  Anne  Askew, ....    341 

She  endures  the  rack 342 

And  is  burnt  with  some  others,   .  .  ibid. 

A  design  against  Cranmer, ibid. 

The  king  takes  care  of  him,     ....    343 
A  design  against  the  queen,    ....    344 
The  cause  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk's 
disgrace, 345 

Anno  1547. 

The  earl  of  Surrey  is  executed,  . .  346 
The  duke  of  Norfolk's  submission,  ibid. 

A  parliament  meets, 347 

The  duke  of  Norfolk  is- attainted,  ibid. 
His  death  prevented  by  the  king's,  348 
The  emperor's  designs  against  the 

protestants,     ibid. 

The  king's  sickness, ibid. 

His  latter  will  a  forgery, 349 

The    king's    severities  against  the 

popish  party, 35 1 

Some  Carthusians  executed  for  de- 
nying the  king's  supremacy,    . .    352 

And  a  priest  for  treason,  .    ibid. 

Three  monks  executed ibid. 

Fisher's  trial  and  death,    353 

His  character,    354 

More's  trial  and  death, ibid. 

His  character,    355 

Attainders  after  the  rebellion  was 

quieted, 356 

Censures  passed  upon  it, 357 

Friar   Forrest's   equivocation   and 

heresy,     ^  .  . .  ibid . 

The  proceedings   against   cardinal 

Pole's  friends,     358 

Attainders    without    hearing    the 

parties, 359 

The  conclusion, 362 


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